Death toll from China's Novel Coronavirus climbs to 2,000

The death toll from China's Novel Corona virus epidemic jumped to 2,000 after 132 more people died in Hubei province, the hard-hit epicentre of the outbreak yesterday. The province's health commission reported 1,693 new cases of people infected with the virus. This brings the total number of cases in mainland China past 74,000.

A study released by Chinese officials claimed most patients have mild cases of the illness. Outside of hardest-hit Hubei, which has been effectively locked down to try



to contain the virus, the number of new cases has been slowing and China's national health authority has said this is a sign the outbreak is under control. According to state media, 

President Xi Jinping, in a phone call with the British Prime Minister yesterday said that China's measures were achieving visible progress. However, the World Health Organization has cautioned that it was too early to tell if the decline would continue.