Covid-19 death toll up to 3,117, including 174 outside mainland China

Mainland China had 125 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infections on Monday, the National Health Commission said on Tuesday, down from 202 cases a day earlier and the lowest since the authority started publishing nationwide data in January.

The death toll from the outbreak in mainland China had reached 2,943 as of the end of Monday, up by 31 from the previous day.

The central province of Hubei, the epicentre of the outbreak, reported 31 new deaths, while in the provincial capital of Wuhan, 24 people died.

Globally there are now 3,117 deaths, with 66 in Iran, 52 in Italy and 29 in South Korea. The US has also just announced 6 deaths in the Seattle area.

The sharp drop in new infections in China compared to a day earlier was driven by a further decline in new confirmed cases in Wuhan, the city hit hardest by the pathogen in China.

New cases in Wuhan fell to 111 from 193 a day earlier, and accounted for almost all of the 114 new infections in central Hubei province on Monday.

Excluding Hubei, there were 11 new cases in mainland China on Monday.

That brings the total number of confirmed cases in mainland China so far to 80,151.

Globally there have been 90,847 cases with 48,002 patients recovering. - Reuters