Coronavirus death toll reaches 722, over 34,000 infected

Beijing: The death toll due to the novel coronavirus outbreak in China has reached 722, authorities said on Saturday, while the number of confirmed cases also rose to 34,546.

Chinese health authorities said they received reports of 3,399 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 86 deaths Friday from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, Xinhua reported.

Among the deaths, 81 are in Hubei Province, two in Heilongjiang as well as one in Beijing, Henan and Gansu respectively, according to China's National Health Commission.

Another 4,214 new suspected cases were reported Friday, said the commission.

Also Friday, 1,280 patients became seriously ill, and 510 people were discharged from hospital after recovery.

The overall confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland had reached 34,546 by the end of Friday, the commission said, noting that a total of 722 people had died of the disease.

The commission added that 6,101 patients remained in severe condition, and 27,657 people were suspected of being infected with the virus.

A total of 2,050 people had been discharged from hospital after recovery.

The commission said 3,45,498 close contacts had been traced, adding that among them, 26,702 were discharged from medical observation Friday, with 189,660 others still under medical observation.

By the end of Friday, 26 confirmed cases had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), including one death, 10 in the Macao SAR and 16 in Taiwan.