China slowly gets back to work as coronavirus toll hits daily record

Workers began trickling back to offices and factories around China on Monday as the government eased some restrictions on working during a coronavirus epidemic that has killed more than 900 people, most of them on the mainland.

The death toll of 97 on Sunday was the largest in a single day since the outbreak was detected in December and linked to a market selling animals in the Hubei provincial capital of Wuhan.

Stocks and oil fell while safe-haven gold rose as the death toll from the outbreak surpassed that of another coronavirus, which brought a global epidemic of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2002/2003, raising alarm bells about its severity.

A team of experts headed by the World Health Organization (WHO) was flying into Beijing on Monday to help assess the outbreak.

The epidemic has caused huge disruptions in China with usually teeming cities becoming virtual ghost towns during the past two weeks as Communist Party rulers ordered virtual lockdowns, canceled flights and closed factories and schools.

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