BERLIN, March 11. /TASS/. Germany has confirmed 157 new novel coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, with the total amount of people infected in the country reaching 1,296, deputy chief of the Robert Koch Institute Lars Schaade said on Tuesday.

"The North Rhine-Westphalia federal land is the epicenter of the virus with 484 cases," he said. 80% of patients exhibit mild symptoms or no symptoms at all. The virus presents the greatest danger to elderly persons or to people with chronic diseases.

Two German citizens aged 89 and 78 have died from the virus.

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 4,000 people have died.