More than 1700 deaths recorded in China
Kathmandu, February 17
China's National Health Commission Monday announced that the death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in mainland China reached 1,770 as of the end of Sunday. A total of 105 new deaths were recorded on Sunday.
The Commission said on Monday reported that at least 100 of the new deaths were from the province of Hubei, the epicentre of the epidemic. Across the country, there were 2,048 new confirmed infections, about 1,933 from Hubei alone, pushing the new total to 70,548.
The Aljazeera reported that Hubei announced tough new measures to try to curb the outbreak, ordering its cities to block roads to all private vehicles. Meanwhile, a newly revealed Chinese President Xi Jinping was aware of the potential severity of the outbreak long before the public was informed.
Meanwhile, Japanese officials have confirmed 99 more people infected by the new virus aboard the quarantined cruise ship Diamond Princess, bringing the total to 454, the Health Ministry said Monday .
The ministry has been carrying out tests on passengers and crew on the ship, docked in Yokohama, a port city near Tokyo. Outside China, the ship has had the largest number of cases of the COVID-19 illness caused by the virus that emerged in China late last year.
