HELSINKI, March 11. /TASS/. The number of people infected with the novel coronavirus in Finland has increased by at least 17 in the past 24 hours, with the total number of coronavirus cases in the country reaching 57, the Ilta-Sanomat newspaper informed on Wednesday.

The newspaper informed that the majority of new cases had been documented in Helsinki, where 11 more people contracted the virus. The first case of infection was reported in Finland back in January.

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 number of people infected has surpassed 110,000 globally, while over 4,000 people have died.