Novel coronavirus death toll in China reaches 259
By Trend
The number of people diagnosed with pneumonia caused by the 2019-nCoV novel coronavirus topped 11,700 on Saturday, 259 of them died, China’s National Health Commission said, Trend reports citing TASS.
Earlier on Saturday, the Wangyi news portal said over 11,000 people were infected and 258 died, according to official data from Chinese regions.
According to the latest data, the province of Hubei and its administrative capital of Wuhan, where the disease was first detected, accounts for the bulk of cases (over 7,100 patients and 249 deaths). It is followed by the provinces of Zhejiang (537 cases), Guangdong (436 cases) and Henan (352 cases and two deaths).
A total of 139 coronavirus cases were reported in the capital Beijing. The province of Heilongjiang has 59 confirmed cases of coronavirus. The disease was reported in practically all major administrative entities of China.
On December 31, 2019 the Chinese authorities reported to the World Health Organization about an outbreak of pneumonia of unknown etiology in Wuhan, a major trading and industrial center with a population of 11 million. The virus - 2019-nCoV - was identified on January 7. Apart from China cases of the disease have been confirmed in 23 countries, including Russia. The World Health Organization has recognized the outbreak as an international emergency.
04:24 (GMT+4) The number of confirmed deaths from China's coronavirus outbreak has risen to 258, as authorities in hardest-hit Hubei province on Saturday (Feb. 1) reported 45 new fatalities, Trend reports citing CNA.
In its daily update, the provincial health commission also said newly confirmed cases of infection in Hubei continued to grow at a steady pace, with 1,347.
That puts the national total over 11,000, based on numbers previously issued by the central government.
Most of the country's deaths and overall cases have been in Hubei, a populous province in China's centre.
The virus is believed to have emerged in December in the provincial capital of Wuhan in a meat market that sold wild game.
The epidemic has spread far and wide as Chinese people travelled across the country and the world for the Lunar New Year holiday that started last week.
It has since ballooned into a global health emergency with cases in more than 20 countries.
The top Communist Party official in Wuhan expressed "remorse" on Friday, saying local authorities acted too slowly in containing the virus.
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