The left-handed batter scored 3369 runs in 136 one-day internationals and 2893 in 140 Twenty20 internationals — both Pakistan records
Asked about Zhong's prediction, Australia's chief medical officer, Brendan Murphy, said: "I think it's far too premature to say that".
"I think we've just got to watch the data very closely over the coming weeks before we make any predictions," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp on Wednesday, while praising China's "Herculean efforts" to contain the virus.
Hundreds of cases have been reported in dozens of countries and territories around the world, including one fatality in Hong Kong and another in the Philippines.
The biggest cluster of cases outside of China was aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined off the Japanese port of Yokohama with about 3,700 people on board. Japanese officials on Wednesday said another 39 people had tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing the total to 175.
Echoing the WHO's comparison with the fight against terrorism, China's state news agency Xinhua said in an article published late on Tuesday the epidemic was a "battle that has no gunpowder smoke but must be won".
It warned the epidemic was a "big test of China's governance system and capabilities" and said some officials were still "dropping the ball" in places where it was most severe.
"This is a wake-up call for us," it said.
Hubei's government dismissed the provincial health commission's Communist Party boss, state media said on Tuesday, amid mounting public anger over local authorities' handling of the crisis.
China's censors had allowed criticism of local officials but have begun cracking down on reporting of the outbreak, issuing reprimands to tech firms that gave free rein to online speech, according to Chinese journalists.
Deals on hold
The city of 11 million people remains under virtual lockdown and other Chinese cities resemble ghost towns due to travel restrictions which have paralysed the world's second-biggest economy.
World stocks, which had seen rounds of sell-offs over the coronarvirus's impact, surged to record highs on Zhong's comments. The Dow industrials, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all hit new peaks.
Even if the epidemic ends soon, it has already taken a toll on China's economy, with companies laying off workers and other firms needing loans running into billions of dollars to stay afloat. Supply chains for car manufacturers to smartphone makers have broken down.
Bankers in Asia are bracing for a deal drought as key meetings and roadshows are put on hold.
"All our deals are on hold now - capital markets or M&A. Nothing is happening," said a Hong Kong-based senior investment banker with a Wall Street bank.
Cisco Systems Inc, Facebook Inc, AT&T and Sprint Corp became the latest US technology companies to pull out of an international telecoms conference in Barcelona because of the outbreak. The organiser of the event, the telecom industry's biggest annual gathering, will discuss whether to cancel it, an industry source said.
The left-handed batter scored 3369 runs in 136 one-day internationals and 2893 in 140 Twenty20 internationals — both Pakistan records
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The baby girl named Rouh, meaning Soul, suffered respiratory problems and a weak immune system, a doctor at the Emirati Hospital in Rafah said
Specialised teams are currently managing the situation by cleaning up and removing the dead fish
The charges against them include planning terrorist acts, fundraising for the Organisation, and concealing the source and destination of those funds
Eyewitnesses are reporting that the fire seems to be located in the industrial area