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Number of coronavirus cases in China climbs to 617

The largest number of cases was reported in the Hubei province

© Artyom Ivanov/TASS

BEIJING, January 23. /TASS/. The number of people in China diagnosed with novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV has reached 617 as of 14:00 local time on Thursday (09:00 Moscow time), China’s regional health commissions reported.

The largest number of cases (444) was reported in the Hubei province. The region accounts for all 17 deaths recorded to date. A total of 32 cases were recorded in the Guandong province and 27 in the Zhejiang province. Sixteen confirmed and 22 suspected cases were reported in Shanghai and 14 in Beijing.

Earlier on Thursday, China’s National Health Commission reported more than 570 confirmed cases, 17 of these people died.

Read also

China coronavirus death toll rises to 17

The disease has already crossed borders with sporadic cases registered in Thailand (three cases), South Korea (one), the United States (one) and Japan (one).

On December 31, 2019, the Chinese authorities informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of earlier unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan in central China. On January 7, Chinese specialists denoted the virus causing the disease as coronavirus 2019-nCoV. All cases of the suspected pneumonia were lab tested. As a result, infecting agents of such diseases as flu, bird flu, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) were excluded from the list of possible pathogens.

The World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines reveal that contracting the coronavirus is accompanied by the following symptoms - cold, cough, sore throat and chest congestion. Patients can also experience headaches and fever that can last up to a few days. People with low immune system, children and seniors are the high-risk group. They exhibit symptoms similar to those of pneumonia and bronchitis.

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