Coronavirus: Death Toll In China Jumps To Over 1,500; India Keeps Tight Vigil To Prevent Spread Of Covid-19

The country's Health Commission said it received reports of 2,641 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 143 deaths on Friday from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

China and the world continue to grapple with the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Beijing: China and the world continue to grapple with the spread of the novel coronavirus. The death toll in China due to the coronavirus epidemic has climbed to 1,523 with 143 new fatalities reported mostly from the worst-affected Hubei province while the confirmed cases jumped to over 66,000, health officials said on Saturday. The overall confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland has reached 66,492 by the end of Friday, and 1,523 people have died of the disease, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The country's Health Commission said that 11,053 patients remained in severe condition, and 8,969 people were suspected of being infected with the virus. A total of 8,096 people had been discharged from hospital after recovery. Meanwhile, India is keeping a tight vigil to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in the country and is monitoring the new coronavirus outbreak at the highest level. The country is working to 'plug every possible loophole' to prevent a deadly coronavirus epidemic. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appreciated the high-level commitment to duty showcased by Air India and the Ministry of Health officials who conducted evacuation operations of the stranded Indians in Wuhan. The Prime Minister also issued a letter of appreciation to the team members of the evacuation operations. Watch | Coronavirus Outbreak: Death toll in China reaches 1,523 Besides, flyers from South Korea and Japan have been added to the list of countries who will be put through screening at the country's 21 airports. On Friday, the Chinese government had highlighted the continued drop of coronavirus disease, officially termed by the WHO as COVID-19, all over the country except in Hubei province. Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for the use of digital technology such as big data, artificial intelligence and cloud computing to better support epidemic monitoring and analysis, virus tracing, prevention and treatment, and resource allocation. His call came amid deployment of robots in hospitals in Wuhan treating the virus patients to supply and other materials.