Hubei province reports 116 new coronavirus deaths, global death toll now at 1,486

The death toll from a coronavirus outbreak in China’s Hubei province rose by 116, the province’s health commission said on Friday.

The commission did not disclose the total number of deaths from the newly identified virus, but estimates put the total number of deaths around the world at 1,486 today following the death of a Japanese woman. 

1,483 deaths occurred in mainland China.

Of the new deaths, 88 occurred in the provincial capital of Wuhan, where the flu-like virus is believed to have originated late last year.

A further 4,823 cases had been detected in Hubei, taking the total in the province to 51,986. Over four-fifths of the province’s new cases were in Wuhan.

The daily toll rose by a record of more than 240 on Thursday after the commission began counting cases diagnosed through new clinical methods.

- Reuters