BEIJING (FN), Feb. 9 – The number of deaths from China's new coronavirus epidemic jumped to 805 on Sunday (Feb 9) after hard-hit Hubei province reported 81 new fatalities.

The toll is now higher than the global number of deaths caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus, which killed 774 people in 2002-2003.

A further 2,147 cases have been detected in Hubei, the epicenter of the outbreak, taking the total in the country over 37,000.