China’s top virus expert tells Reuters that coronavirus outbreak may be over in China by April; market reacts

In an exclusive interview with Reuters, China’s senior medical advisor Zhong Nanshan said that the coronavirus outbreak is hitting a peak in China this month and may be over by April. In the latest assessment of an epidemic that has rattled the world, Zhong, an 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 news helped propel U.S. and European stock indexes to fresh records, while crude prices rebounded and gold and the dollar eased as risk appetite improved.