The overall death toll due to the deadly coronavirus on Friday increased to 1,380 in China, with 63,851 confirmed cases, authorities said.
The National Health Commission said that it received reports of 5,090 new confirmed cases and 121 deaths on Thursday from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, reports Xinhua news agency.
Among the deaths on Thursday, 116 were in Hubei province, two in Heilongjiang, and one each in Anhui, Henan and Chongqing.
Another 2,450 new suspected cases were reported Thursday, said the Commission.
Also on Thursday, 2,174 patients became seriously ill, while 1,081 people were discharged from hospital after recovery.
The commission added that 10,204 patients remained in severe condition, and 10,109 people were suspected of being infected with the virus.
The commission said 493,067 close contacts had been traced, adding that among them, 26,905 were discharged on Thursday, with 177,984 others still under medical observation.
Outside China, there has been three deaths — Hong Kong, the Philippines and Japan, with 447 cases in 24 countries, according to Mike Ryan, head of WHO’s health emergencies programme.
On Thursday Japan announced its first coronavirus death – a woman in her 80s who lived in Kanagawa, south-west of Tokyo.
The woman’s diagnosis was confirmed after her death and she had no obvious link to China’s Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak, the BBC said in a report citing the Japanese media as saying.
As of Friday, the number of reported cases outside of China were Japan (203), Hong Kong (53), Singapore (50), Thailand (33), South Korea (28), Taiwan (18), Malaysia (18), Germany (16), Vietnam (16), Australia (15), the US (14), France (11), Macau (10), the UK (nine), the UAE (eight), Canada (seven), India (three), the Philippines (three), Italy (three), Russia (two), Spain (two), Cambodia (one), Finland (one), Nepal (one), Sri Lanka (one), Sweden (one) and Belgium (one), according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.-IANS news