Coronavirus: China reports 125 new cases, 31 new deaths; lowest number of new cases since January

Medical staff treat a critical patient infected by the coronavirus at the Red Cross hospital in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on March 1, 2020. PHOTO: AFP

Updated

Published

Mar 03, 2020, 08:26 AM

BEIJING (REUTERS) - Mainland China had 125 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infections on Monday (March 2), the National Health Commission said on Tuesday, down from 202 cases a day earlier and the lowest since the authority started publishing nationwide data in January.

The sharp drop in new infections from a day earlier was driven by a further decline in new confirmed cases in Wuhan, the city hit hardest by the pathogen in China.

New cases in Wuhan fell to 111 from 193 a day earlier, and accounted for almost all of the 114 new infections in central Hubei province on Monday.

Excluding Hubei, there were 11 new cases in mainland China on Monday.

That brings the total number of confirmed cases in mainland China so far to 80,151.

The death toll from the outbreak in mainland China had reached 2,943 as of the end of Monday, up by 31 from the previous day.

The central province of Hubei, the epicentre of the outbreak, reported 31 new deaths, while in the provincial capital of Wuhan, 24 people died.