AKIPRESS.COM - The coronavirus pandemic could be over by June if countries follow China's example of strict health measures, a Beijing medical adviser claimed today.

Epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan urged countries to 'get mobilised' and 'intervene on a national scale' to halt a crisis which is now spiralling outside China, Daily Mail reports.

Zhong, who is credited with helping to combat the SARS outbreak in 2003, warned that the current crisis would 'last longer' if countries 'do not treat the infectiousness and harmfulness seriously'.

Beijing says that the 'peak of the epidemic has passed for China' with only a trickle of new cases and the number of new patients in Hubei province falling to single digits for the first time yesterday.

Chinese authorities credit their strict measures including a near-total lockdown of Hubei province with bringing the virus under control.

The total number of cases recorded in mainland China was 80,793. As of Tuesday, 62,793 people had recovered and been discharged from hospital.