Paris, March 15 (PTI/AFP): A spike in deaths from the coronavirus in Spain has pushed the global toll past 6,000, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources.
The worldwide death toll rose to 6,036, with 159,844 infections after 105 died in Spain. While China remains the country with the most deaths with 3,199, the pandemic is now spreading more rapidly in Europe, with 1,907 deaths in the continent’s worst-hit country Italy.
China reports 10 new deaths, ‘imported’ cases rise to 111
China on Sunday reported 10 more fatalities due to the novel coronavirus, taking the death toll to 3,199, while the imported cases rose to 111 amid sharp decline in the number of domestic cases.
China’s National Health Commissions (NHC) said 20 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection and 10 deaths were reported from all over the country on Saturday.
Only four new domestic cases were detected, all in Hubei province’s capital Wuhan, the city where the virus first emerged in December before growing into a national crisis and a pandemic.
All the 10 deaths were in Wuhan, bringing the national toll from the disease in mainland China to 3,199.
The overall confirmed cases on the mainland reached 80,778 by the end of Saturday, including 3,199 people who died of the disease in the last three months, 10,734 patients still undergoing treatment and 66,911 patients discharged after recovery, it said.
Sixteen imported cases were reported on the mainland Saturday. Among them, five were reported in Beijing, four in Zhejiang Province, three in both Shanghai and Gansu Province, as well as one in Guangdong Province. By the end of Saturday, 111 imported cases had been reported, NHC said.
By the end of Saturday, 141 confirmed cases including four deaths had been reported in Hong Kong Special, 10 confirmed cases in the Macao and 53 in Taiwan including one death.
The deadly novel coronavirus has claimed over 5,300 lives and infected more than 142,000 people across 135 countries and territories, with the World Health Organisation describing the outbreak a pandemic on Wednesday.
Spain reports 2,000 new virus cases and more than 100 deaths
Spain on Sunday reported some 2,000 new coronavirus cases and more than a hundred deaths over the last 24 hours, the latest spike in Europe’s second-most affected country after Italy. The new figures raise Spain’s number of COVID-19 infections to 7,753 -- and its death toll to 288 -- after the government imposed a near-total nationwide lockdown, banning people from leaving home except to go to work, get medical care or buy food.
Iran urges people to stay home as virus claims 113 lives
Iran on Sunday urged its citizens to stick to guidelines and stay at home to stop the new coronavirus spreading, as it announced another 113 deaths from the outbreak.
The latest death toll announced by the health ministry took to 724 the official number of people to have been killed by the disease since last month.
People “should cancel all travel and stay at home so that we may see the situation improving in the coming days,” ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said in a televised news conference.
Jahanpour also reported 1,209 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 infection, raising the total to 13,938.
“The good news is that more than 4,590 of the overall confirmed cases have recovered” and the patients have been discharged from hospitals, he added.
Tehran province had the highest number of new infections with 251 fresh cases.
Khorasan Razavi province, home to the holy Shiite city of Mashhad, followed with 143 cases.