TASS, February 19. The number of people recovered from the novel coronavirus in China has exceeded cases of infections for the first time in the past 24 hours, China’s Xinhua news agency reported Wednesday citing the Chinese health committee.

On February 18, 1,824 fully recovered patients discharged from hospitals in China, while 1,749 new coronavirus infections were reported that day. Overall, 14,376 recoveries are reported in the country.

A pneumonia outbreak caused by the COVID-19 virus (previously called 2019-nCoV) was reported in China’s city of Wuhan - a large trade and industrial center in central China populated by 12 million people - in late December. The WHO declared it a global emergency, describing the outbreak as an epidemic with multiple foci.

The virus spread to 25 more countries, apart from China: Australia, Belgium, Cambodia, Canada, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, India, Italy, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States and Vietnam. Chinese authorities have confirmed 74,100 cases of the disease, while more than 2,000 people died from the novel coronavirus.