MEXICO CITY, April 17. /TASS/. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Mexico has increased by 450 in the past day and reached 6,297, chief epidemiologist at the country's health ministry Jose Luis Alomia told a press conference on Thursday.

"A total of 6,297 cases [of novel coronavirus] have been confirmed by testing," he said adding that thirty-seven patients died in the past day, bringing the total number of fatalities to 486. Doctors are testing another 12,340 people for COVID-19.

The first coronavirus case was confirmed in Mexico on February 28. On March 30, the Mexican government declared a state of emergency in the healthcare system.

In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.

On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 2,000,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 126,800 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 485,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.