BEIJING, February 11. /TASS/. A total of 108 people died of pneumonia caused by the 2019-nCoV novel coronavirus in China in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall death toll to 1,016, China's National Health Commission said on its website on Tuesday.

"As of 24:00, February 10 (19:00 Moscow time), the number of confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus reached 42,638 in China, with 1,016 deaths. A total of 3,996 people recovered and have been discharged from hospitals," the commission said in a statement.

The majority of cases in mainland China were reported in the central province of Hubei, where the deadly infection broke out in late 2019. By Tuesday, the region had 31,738 coronavirus patients, 974 of whom died.

Outside mainland China, 70 confirmed cases of coronavirus were reported in Hong Kong (42 cases, one death), Macao (10 cases) and Taiwan (18 cases).

On December 31, 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, Chinese experts identified the infecting agent as coronavirus 2019-nCoV. The virus spread to 24 more countries outside China, including Russia. WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak in China a global health emergency.