By Staff, Agencies

More than 90% of the total deaths from the New Coronavirus are in Hubei, the Chinese province where the virus emerged late last year.

However, there have also been deaths in 10 other countries, including more than 50 in Iran and more than 30 in Italy.

Worldwide, there have been almost 90,000 confirmed cases so far, with the numbers outside China growing faster than inside it.

But most patients have only mild symptoms, the World Health Organization said on Sunday, and the death rate appears to be between 2% and 5%.

By comparison, the seasonal flu has an average mortality rate of about 0.1% but is highly infectious - with up to 400,000 people dying from it each year.

Other strains of coronavirus, such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome [SARS] and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome [MERS], have much higher death rates than Covid-19.

As the rate of growth in China has declined, the rest of the world has seen a sharp increase in infections.

In Italy, the number of infections doubled in 48 hours, the head of the country's civil protection body said on Sunday.

There have been at least 34 deaths and 1,694 confirmed cases. Amazon said two of its employees in Italy have the virus and are under quarantine.

In the UK, where there are 36 confirmed cases, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called an emergency Cobra committee for Monday.

On Monday, South Korea - the biggest hotspot outside China - reported 476 new cases, bringing the total number of cases to 4,212.

There have also been 26 deaths.

Of the confirmed cases, 3,081 cases are from Daegu - and 73% of these cases have been linked to the Shincheonji Church.