Coronavirus death toll in China crosses 3,000; confirmed cases 80,400

All the deaths were in the epicentre of the virus, Hubei Province and its capital Wuhan, which continued to be ground zero of the COVID-19.

The death toll of Coronavirus in China has crossed 3,000 with 31 new fatalities and the total number of confirmed cases jumped to over 80,400, while Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for "undiminished vigilance", saying the situation in virus-hit Wuhan still remains severe despite positive progress. China's National Health Commission said on Thursday that it received reports of 139 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection and 31 deaths on Wednesday on the Chinese mainland. All the deaths were in the epicentre of the virus, Hubei Province and its capital Wuhan, which continued to be ground zero of the COVID-19.

Also on Wednesday, 143 new suspected cases were reported while the number of severe cases decreased by 464 to 5,952, the NHC said, adding that 522 people were still suspected of being infected with the virus. The overall confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland have reached 80,409 by the end of Wednesday. This included 3,012 people who have died of the disease, 25,352 patients still undergoing treatment and 52,045 patients who have been discharged.

Also on Wednesday, two "imported cases" (people arriving from abroad) of the novel coronavirus infection were reported on the mainland, all of which were in Zhejiang Province. By the end of Wednesday, 20 imported cases have been reported, the commission said. By the end of Wednesday, 104 confirmed cases, including two deaths have been reported in Hong Kong, 10 confirmed cases in Macao and 42 in Taiwan, including one death, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Forty-three patients in Hong Kong, nine in Macao and 12 in Taiwan have been discharged from hospital after recovery. In Hubei province, from where the COVID-19 originated in December reported 134 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection and 31 new deaths on Wednesday, the local health commission said. The latest report brought the total confirmed cases in the hard-hit province to 67,466 and that of total deaths to 2,902, which included 2,305 fatalities in Wuhan.

The province also saw 1,923 patients discharged from hospital after recovery on Wednesday, bringing the total number of discharged patients in the province to 40,479.
Among the 20,765 hospitalised patients, 4,747 were still in severe condition and another 1,041 in critical condition, it said. Hubei province also reported 67 new suspected cases of the virus on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for undiminished vigilance on the prevention and control work of the COVID-19 as the situation in the Wuhan City and Hubei Province remains severe.

After arduous efforts throughout the country, the current situation of the epidemic prevention and control has continued to improve, and production and people's living have been recovering, Xi said in a meeting of the Political Bureau of the ruling Communist Party of China, (CPC) on Wednesday here. He called for more efforts to accelerate the establishment of an economic and social order that is compatible with the prevention and control work of the epidemic, so as to consolidate and expand this hard-won good momentum and create condition to build a moderately well-off society in all respects, and completely eliminate absolute poverty, state-run CGTN reported.

The epidemic prevention and control work remains tough in Hubei province and Wuhan city, and the risk of the epidemic spreading is increasing due to increased movement of people and gatherings in other regions, he pointed out. He asked relevant authorities to deepen global cooperation and play China's role as a responsible major country. It is imperative to promptly advance various tasks of economic and social development, orderly promote the resumption of work and production, realise the orderly flow of people and property, the connection of production, supply and marketing, and the effective integration of domestic and foreign trade, and minimise the loss caused by the epidemic, Xi said.

The CPC meeting highlighted the importance of the COVID-19 prevention and control work in Beijing and called for more efforts in preventing the situation from rebounding. The meeting also urged more scientific research into test kits, vaccines and medical supplies. By the end of Wednesday, there have been 12,600 confirmed cases of the coronavirus outside China, with over 214 deaths, statistics from the World Health Organisation showed Thursday.

In the past 24 hours, 2,103 newly confirmed cases outside China have been reported and four new member states--Argentina, Chile, Poland and Ukraine--have reported cases of COVID-19, the state-run People's Daily reported. South Korea confirmed 438 more cases of COVID-19, raising the total number of infections to 5,766, according to Yonhap News Agency. Japan confirmed over 1,037 coronavirus cases, and so far 12 people have died due to the infection.

Italy reported a total of 107 deaths of the deadly coronavirus, taking the total number to 3,089. In Iran, the deadly infection claimed 92 lives out of more than 2,922 cases. The US' death toll from the COVID-19 rose to 11 on Thursday and nationwide there are nearly 160 confirmed cases.

France said that 21 new cases of COVID-19 had been identified with a total of 285 cases now diagnosed, of which 12 were cured and four have died.

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