BEIJING, February 13. /TASS/. The number of people who contracted the novel coronavirus in the central Chinese province of Hubei, where the disease broke out in late December, has topped 48,200 people, 1,310 of them died, the region’s health commission said on Thursday.
A total of 3,441 patients recovered by Thursday.
According to updated figures, the official mortality rate declined to 2.7% versus 3.2% on Wednesday.
The number of infected persons in Hubei’s administrative capital of Wuhan, believed to be the epicenter of the outbreak, topped 32,900 people.
Moreover, 9,000 people have been quarantined on suspicion of contracting the virus.
Over 77,300 people, who had close contact with infected persons, are under medical supervision.
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. The source of the outbreak is the COVID-19 coronavirus. The disease spread to 24 more countries outside China, including Russia. WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak in China a global health emergency.