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Feb. 2 (UPI) -- The Philippines has reported the first coronavirus death outside China, where the toll climbed to 361 fatalities and 17,205 cases through Sunday. China's National Health Commission reported 2,829 new cases and 57 additional deaths for a total of 361 on Monday morning. Eight days ago, there were 46 deaths in mainland China with the first death reported on Jan. 11.
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There have now been more deaths from the coronavirus on mainland China than the 349 recorded by the WHO during the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, better known as SARS, that killed some 800 people worldwide between 2002 and 2003.
Health officials in Hubei Province, which is the epicenter of the outbreak, reported 2,103 new cases and 56 additional deaths through Sunday. Forty-one of the deaths were reported in the provincial capital of Wuhan, where a now-closed seafood and animal market is believed to be where the virus emerged from.
A total of 147 patients in China were released from hospitals after being cured, including 80 in Hubei province.
In the Philippines, a 44-year-old male Chinese national died Saturday, the country's Department of Health said in a statement, bringing the worldwide death toll amid the coronavirus outbreak to 362.
Health officials said that the patient -- the country's one of two confirmed cases of the coronavirus -- was in stable condition and showed signs of improvement, but his health rapidly deteriorated in the 24 hours prior to his death.
He was the companion of a 38-year-old Chinese woman who arrived in the Philippines from Wuhan on Jan. 21 after traveling through Hong Kong.
"This is the first reported death outside China, but bear in mind that this is not a locally acquired case, but in the epicenter of the disease in Wuhan, where there are very large number of deaths. We are working with the DoH to minimize and contain the disease," said Rabindra Abeyasinghe, the World Health Organization representative to the Philippines.
Philippines Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III confirmed that it was an imported case of the virus with no evidence of local transmission.
"We are currently working with the Chinese Embassy to ensure the dignified management of the remains," Duque said.
Twenty-three people are currently under investigation for the disease, according to the Philippines Department of Health.
Hours before the death was announced, Philippines Sen. Christopher "Bong" Go said a temporary travel ban will be issued for visitors from China, including Hong Kong and Macau, regardless of their nationality.
"Taking into consideration the concerns raised by key government officials and health experts, the president made a decision and has agreed to adopt this recommendation and implement it immediately as additional precautionary measure to protect the Filipinos," the senator, a former close aide of President Rodrigo Duterte, said Sunday in an interview on GMA News TV.
Filipinos will have to undergo a 14-day quarantine period upon arriving in the Philippines from China. There are about 240,000 Filipino workers in Hong Kong.
Many of these are domestics helpers who would have made plans to return to home in April for Holy Week, according to Eman Villanueva, a spokesman for the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body in Hong Kong.
"I was scheduled to go home in February for my mother's death anniversary ... I am basically deprived of going home and spending time with my family," Jess Mendez, a 38-year-old Filipino domestic helper in Hong Kong, said in a report by the South China Morning Post.
In Hong Kong, there were 15 reported cases, with 10 in Taiwan and eight in Macau, according to statistics through Monday morning in China.
Outside mainland China, a total of 149 cases have been reported, including 96 in other Asian nations, 23 in Europe and 13 in North America, according to the South China Morning Post. But since then, three more cases were reported in the United States for 11 total. A second woman in Santa Clara County, Calif., was reported with the illness -- though the cases are not related -- and a married male and female in San Benito County.
All major cities in Hubei province, with 62 million people, are now under lockdown. On Saturday, Xiangyang announced the shutdown of railway stations and the suspension of public transportation.
In Wuhan, where there are the most cases of any city, authorities announced plans to quarantine all suspected patients and those known to have been in close contact with a confirmed case.
China is building two hospitals with 2,600 beds in less than two weeks in Wuhan. One building called Huoshenshan Hospital was completed Sunday.
A study from the University of Hong Kong assumes each infected person could have passed the virus on to 2.68 others.
A total of 189,583 people that have had close contact with infected patients, the Chinese commission said. On Sunday,10,055 people were freed from observation.
