BEIJING, Feb 20 — The number of people, who have been infected with a new coronavirus across mainland China, has reached 74,576, with 2,118 patients having died, Sputnik news agency quoted the National Health Commission as saying on Thursday.
“The National Health Commission received information about 74,576 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by a new type of coronavirus from 31 provinces (regions and municipalities), including 56,303 currently ill people. 11,864 people are in critical condition, 2,118 have died, (and) 16,155 people have been discharged from hospitals,” the commission said in a statement.
Within the past 24 hours, the authorities have registered 394 new confirmed cases and 114 fatalities, including 108 ones in the province of Hubei.
Within the same period of time, 1,277 new suspected cases of the new coronavirus have been recorded, while over 126,000 people, who had contacts with infected persons, are currently under medical surveillance.
The number of confirmed cases in Hong Kong stands at 65 people, with two patients have died and five more having been discharged from hospitals. Ten people have been infected with the virus in Macao, with six of them having been released from medical facilities. The number of infected people in Taiwan has reached 24, with one of them have died and two others recovered.
The new strain of coronavirus – Covid-19 – was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan, located in the province of Hubei, in December and has since spread to more than 25 countries. In late January, the World Health Organisation declared a global health emergency in light of the outbreak.
— Bernama
