SEOUL, March 3. /TASS/. The number of people infected with a novel coronavirus in South Korea increased by 477 reaching 4,812 people, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention at the country's Ministry of Health.

In the last week, South Korea has seen a sharp increase in the number of people infected. In this regard, the country’s government once again postponed the start of the school year in schools for two weeks, on March 23.

China reported earlier that the number of victims of the novel coronavirus in the country increased by 31 to 2,943, over 47,200 people recovered. According to the commission, 31 deaths were recorded over the day, almost 2,800 people were discharged from hospitals. The total number of people infected with the novel coronavirus in China is more than 80,100 people. All cases of death were reported in Hubei province, including 24 in Wuhan. The number of infected in Hubei increased by 114. On Monday, more than 2,400 people were discharged from local medical facilities.

A pneumonia outbreak caused by the COVID-19 virus (previously known as 2019-nCoV) was reported in China’s city of Wuhan, a large trade and industrial center with a population of 12 million, in late December. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak in China a global health emergency, characterizing it as an epidemic with multiple foci. Cases of the new coronavirus have also been reported in over 70 other countries, including Russia.