The number of confirmed cases in the new virus outbreak in China reached 5,974 on Wednesday, overtaking the number of people infected in the mainland by the SARS epidemic in 2002-3.

China's national health commission reported more than 1,400 confirmed new cases on Wednesday, as the death toll rose to 132.

There were 5,327 confirmed cases in mainland China during the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome epidemic.

That outbreak killed more than 770 people globally, including 349 in mainland China.

Some experts have praised Beijing for being more reactive and open about the new virus compared to its handling of the SARS crisis.

But others say local officials had earlier been more focused on projecting stability than responding to the outbreak when it began to spread earlier this month.

Japan and the US evacuated nationals from hard-hit Wuhan city at the centre of the outbreak on Wednesday.

25 new fatalities in China's virus epicentre: official
Wuhan, China (AFP) Jan 28, 2020 - The number of confirmed deaths from China's viral outbreak has risen to 131, with authorities in central Hubei province on Wednesday reporting 25 new fatalities and 840 new cases.

The latest figures from hard-hit Hubei, the epicentre of the contagion, would put the nationwide total of confirmed infections at more than 5,300, based on figures previously released by the central government.

The new figures came as Japan airlifted about 200 of its nationals out of the city, and the US evacuated about 240 Americans by air.

More than 50 million people have been locked down in and around Wuhan, the central industrial city where the outbreak first began, in a bid by authorities to stop an infection that has since spread to other cities in China and to other countries.

France has also said it intends to fly its citizens out of the city in the coming days.

Chinese President Xi Jinping called the virus a "demon" during talks on Tuesday with the head of the World Health Organization in Beijing, and pledged a "timely" release of updates about the crisis.

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