BEIJING, February 15. /TASS/. The fight against the novel coronavirus outbreak in Hubei province (central China) has entered a decisive stage, all other regions of the country have sent more than 25,600 medical workers there, Deputy Director of China’s National Health Commission Wang Hesheng said on Saturday.

"Thanks to continuous efforts and drastic steps, we have been able to reduce the peak of the disease and weaken the spread of the virus," he told reporters at a news conference.

According to the official, about 80% of all doctors mobilized from other parts of China currently work in the city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak.

On December 31, 2019, the Chinese authorities reported to the World Health Organization about an outbreak of pneumonia of unknown etiology in Wuhan, an economic and industrial metropolis with a population of 11 million. The virus - 2019-nCoV - was identified on January 7, 2020. Apart from China, more than twenty other countries, including Russia, have reported confirmed coronavirus cases. According to the latest data, the overall number of people who contracted the novel coronavirus in China has exceeded 66,400, 1,523 people have died, and more than 8,000 have recovered.

The World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, describing it as an epidemic with multiple locations.