THE death toll from China’s new coronavirus epidemic jumped to 2,112 today after 108 more people died in Hubei province, the hard-hit epicentre of the outbreak.

Most of the deaths were in the provincial capital Wuhan, where the virus first emerged in December, according to the daily update from the Hubei health commission.

More than 74,500 people have now been infected with the new coronavirus nationwide.

Hubei health officials said there were 615 new cases in Wuhan and 13 more elsewhere in the province.

However, the health commission said it was reducing the number of previously reported cases in a number of cities in the province by 279.

The adjustment means a net increase today of 349 new cases across the province.

Even without the adjustment, the number of new cases was sharply lower than the daily updates of recent weeks. Yesterday, there were 1,693 new cases reported in the province.

It was not immediately clear how the over-reporting had occurred. – AFP, February 20, 2020.