BEIJING, February 4. /TASS/. Only about 2.1% of people who contracted the novel coronavirus die of pneumonia caused by it, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Tuesday.

"Although the number of new cases of the coronavirus infection is growing, the mortality rate in China is very low and stands at 2.1% [from the overall number of those infected], which is way below the mortality rates of Ebola fever, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) or Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)," the spokesperson said on the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s official website.

"At present, the number of those who had recovered is growing steadily. We are absolutely sure of our ability to win this battle against the epidemic," she went on.

The Chinese diplomat added that "China’s efforts in fighting the outbreak were appreciated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the international community."

According to a latest report by China's National Health Commission, the number of people who contracted coronavirus in China has exceeded 20,400, the death toll reached to 425 as of Tuesday.

On December 31, 2019, Chinese authorities informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about an outbreak of an unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, a large trade and industrial center in central China populated by 11 million people. On January 7, 2020, Chinese experts identified the infecting agent as coronavirus 2019-nCoV. This new strain of coronavirus has already been identified in another 23 countries, including Russia. The World Health Organization has recognized the pneumonia outbreak in China as an international emergency.