Coronavirus has hit the peak, maybe over by April: China's govt advisor

He said there was a gradual reduction in new cases in the southern province of Guangdong where he was, and also in Zhejiang and elsewhere

The coronavirus outbreak is hitting a peak in China this month and may be over by April, the government's senior medical adviser said on Tuesday, in the latest assessment of an epidemic that has rattled the world.

In an interview with Reuters, Zhong Nanshan, an 83-year-old epidemiologist who won fame for combating the SARS epidemic in 2003, shed tears about the doctor Li Wenliang who died last week after being reprimanded for raising the alarm.

But Zhong was optimistic the new outbreak would soon slow, with the number of new cases already declining in some places.

The peak should come in the middle