China coronavirus infections surge past 75,000

Mainland China had 118 new deaths from the coronavirus outbreak by the end of Thursday, the national health commission reported on Friday, pushing the number of deaths nationwide to at least 2,236, reports Aljazeera.

Beijing also reported 1,109 new confirmed cases of the disease during the same period, sharply up from 349 cases the previous day, reversing three days of decline.

At least 631 of the new cases were from the epicentre of the epidemic in Hubei, including 220 cases from the province's prison system. Most of the latest deaths were also from the province. 

The latest number of infections nationwide has now reached 75,685.

Earlier, the World Health Organization's (WHO)Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a briefing in Geneva that the recent decline in the number of new cases is encouraging, but added that it was too early to know if this trend would continue.

"We are encouraged by this trend but this is no time for complacency," he said.