FILE PHOTO: A woman wearing a mask is seen at a main shopping area, in downtown Shanghai, China, as the country is hit by an outbreak of a new coronavirus, February 16, 2020. REUTERS/Aly Song
BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – The death toll from a coronavirus outbreak in mainland China reached 1,770 as of the end of Sunday, up by 105 from the previous day, the country’s National Health Commission said on Monday morning.
There were 2,048 new confirmed infections across mainland China reported on Sunday. The total accumulated number of cases reported is 70,548, of which 10,844 people have been treated and released from hospital.
More than 94% of the new cases on Sunday were in the central province of Hubei, where the outbreak is concentrated. The province also saw 100 deaths on Feb. 16.
Henan province, which neighbors Hubei, saw three deaths on Sunday, with the remaining two in southeast China’s Guangdong, which is next to Hong Kong.
Hubei announced on Sunday that it would further tighten traffic restrictions in order to try and curb the outbreak. It also ordered villages and districts to implement the “most stringent” measures to stop people from entering and leaving.
Reporting by David Stanway and Yilei Sun; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Michael Perry