Coronavirus toll rises to 1,113; cases over 44K

Beijing: The death toll in China's novel coronavirus outbreak has gone up to 1,113 with 97 new fatalities reported mostly in the worst-affected Hubei province while the confirmed cases of infection jumped to 44,653, health officials said on Wednesday.

The country's National Health Commission said it received reports of 2,015 new confirmed cases and 97 deaths from 31 provincial-level regions on Tuesday.

The virus was officially named "COVID-19" by the World Health Organization (WHO) at a conference in Geneva.

Among the deaths, 94 were from the virus-hit Hubei Province and one in Henan, Hunan and Chongqing respectively, the Commission said.

Another 3,342 new suspected cases were reported Tuesday, said the commission.

Also on Tuesday, 871 patients were seriously taken ill, while 744 people discharged from hospital after recovery.

The overall confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland has reached 44,653 by the end of Tuesday and 1,113 people has died of the disease.

The commission added that 8,204 patients remained in severe condition and 16,067 people were suspected of being infected with the virus.

A total of 4,740 people had been discharged from hospital after recovery.

The commission said over 4.51 lakh close contacts had been traced with over 1.85 lakh others are still under medical observation. By the end of Tuesday, 49 confirmed cases including one death has been reported in Hong Kong, 10 confirmed cases in Macao and 18 in Taiwan.

As many as 397 cases have reported from a number of countries, state-run CGTN TV reported. After naming the virus as "COVID-19", WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: "We had to find a name that did not refer to a geographical location, an animal, an individual or group of people, and which is also pronounceable and related to the disease".

The CO stands for corona, the VI for virus and the D for disease, Ghebreyesus announced on Tuesday at a news conference at the agency's headquarters in Geneva.

Several countries have banned arrivals from China while major airlines have suspended flights to the

country.

Countries around the world are scrambling to contain the spread of coronavirus which is wreaking havoc in China and abroad. Apart from Germany, Britain and Italy, other European nations with cases of the virus include France, Russia, Belgium, Sweden, Finland and Spain.