Death toll of coronavirus in China climbs to 2,835 with 47 more fatalities

Forty seven more people have died of dely coronavirus, rasing death toll in country to 2,835 while number of confirmed cases climbed to 79,251, Chinese health officials said on Saturday.

China's National Health Commission (NHC) in its daily report on Saturday said it received reports of 427 new confirmed cases of vel coronavirus infection and 47 deaths on Friday.

Among deaths reported, 45 were from epicentre of virus Hubei Province, one in Beijing and Henan respectively, it said. overall confirmed cases on mainland have reached 79,251 by end of Friday, and 2,835 people have died of disease, it said.

virus, though slowing down its virulence, continued to affect more people as ar 248 new suspected cases were reported taking total to 1,418 people.

Also on Friday, 2,885 people were discharged from hospitals after recovery, while number of severe cases decreased by 288 to 7,664, NHC said.

A total of 39,002 people have been discharged from hospitals after recovery. By end of Friday, 94 confirmed cases, including two deaths, have been reported in Hong Kong, 10 confirmed cases in Macao and 34 in Taiwan, including one death.

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Meanwhile, a senior World Health Organisation (WHO) expert said in Geneva on Friday that it is unhelpful to declare a pandemic when people are still trying to contain COVID-19, although WHO has raised epidemic risk alert to highest level.

WHO revised on Friday risk assessment of COVID-19 from "high" to "very high" at global level, as an increasing number of cases in more countries were reported over last few days.

"A Pandemic is a unique situation, in which all citizens on planet will likely be exposed to a virus within a defined period of time," state-run Xinhua news ncy quoted Michael Ryan, executive director of WHO Health Emergencies Programme as saying.

However, in case of COVID-19, it has been proved that course of epidemic can be significantly altered through containment measures and robust public health response, expert ted.

word "pandemic" is "colloquial," Ryan said, appealing for actions that go beyond colloquial terms.

existing data do t support concept of a pandemic so far, he said, highlighting that China has clearly shown that it is t necessarily natural outcome of COVID-19 epidemic if indispensable responses are me quickly.

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