BEIJING, March 10. /TASS/. Chinese President Xi Jinping has begun his visit to Wuhan, China Central Television informed on Tuesday.

According to the channel, at 10:00 local time (05:00 Moscow time), Xi Jinping arrived in Wuhan by plane. He will become acquainted with the measures taken to combat the novel coronavirus, speaking to doctors, social workers, members of the Chinese military, police officers, volunteers, patients and residents of Wuhan.

In late December 2019, Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about an outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, central China. According to Chinese authorities, about 80,700 people have been infected with the virus in the country. The death toll has exceeded 3,100, while about 59,900 patients have recovered. WHO declared the outbreak of the novel coronavirus a global health emergency and named the virus COVID-19. Cases of coronavirus have been reported in over 100 countries, including Russia. The largest outbreaks of COVID-19 outside of China have been detected in South Korea, Iran and Italy. According to WHO, the total amount of people infected has surpassed 110,000 globally, while over 3,800 people have died.