AS the death toll of Coronavirus also known as Covid19, rises to 1800, Liu Zhiming, director of Wuhan Wuchang hospital has been confirmed dead after contracting the virus.

The state media, CCTV, reports that Zhiming, who was an expert in neurosurgery, died Tuesday morning. The deceased senior doctor is one of the medical practitioners who has had to pay the ultimate price while treating cases of the virus.

Zhiming is identified as one of the prominent Chinese doctors to have lost their live to the pathogen.

According to China’s National Health Commission, about six medical workers have died of Covid19 and over 1,000 have been infected.

Globally, 71, 429 confirmed cases have been recorded according to The World Health Organisation (WHO), with 99 percent of the suspected cases in China.

Recall that Covid19 first began in Wuhan, China on December 31. Within a few weeks, the virus has spread to over two dozen countries, with 794 confirmed cases and three deaths outside China.

It was gathered that the battle against the virus remains fierce as doctors face shortages of masks and protective bodysuits but still opt to treat infected patients despite risks involved, health workers told AFP.

Meanwhile, all measures are being put in place to contain the fast spread of the virus to other countries. Recently, Egypt was identified as the first African country to have imported the virus after a case was recorded.

However, Egypts health ministry on Friday refuted the claims. According to the Times of Egypt, Khaled Megahed, advisor to the Egyptian Health Minister on Media Affairs said the nation has deployed every strategy necessary to avoid an outbreak.