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Chinese coronavirus death toll rises to 80

The number of confirmed cases of those who contracted the disease has climbed above 2,700

© AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

BEIJING, January 27. /TASS/. The number of victims of a new type of pneumonia in China has increased to 80, the number of confirmed cases of those who contracted the disease has climbed above 2,700, China’s Wangyi news portal reported on Monday citing local authorities.

Earlier reports pointed to 57 deaths. According to the official statistics, most cases (76) are still concentrated in the central Hubei Province with its administrative center of Wuhan. It is followed by the Guangdong Province (south) and Zhejiang Province (east). Sixty-eight patients were identified in Beijing, while the Heilongjiang Province neighboring Russia has 16 detected cases with one person dead from the disease.

On December 31, Chinese authorities informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about an outbreak of an unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhah - a large trade and industrial center in central China populated by 11 million people. On January 7, Chinese experts identified the infecting agent - coronavirus 2019-nCoV. The new type of coronavirus has already been identified in other countries - Australia, Malaysia, Nepal, France, Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea, Singapore, the United States and Japan. The WHO recognized the pneumonia outbreak in China as a national emergency but stopped short of declaring an international one.

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