Why is Coronavirus such a big deal?

As usual, I don't understand. Why is this Chinese virus such a big deal? 620 people have caught it and 17 have died. I get that, but there are 1.3 billion people in China. So, .00005% of the people in China have an illness and .000001% have died of it. https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/longevity/479573-china-cancels-new-year-plans-amid-coronavirus-outbreak

There are 7.7 BILLION people in the world.

There are 327 million people in the USA. Here is a quote from https://time.com/5610878/2018-2019-flu-season/; "In total, the CDC estimates that up to 42.9 million people got sick during the 2018-2019 flu season, 647,000 people were hospitalized and 61,200 died. That’s fairly on par with a typical season".

I'd call those flu numbers truly frightening and I had no idea they were that high.

Very few people have been affected by this Corona virus and it doesn't seem to be overrunning, even China, where it seems to have started.

So, my question is, why is this Corona virus outbreak such a newsworthy, panicky situation?