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China COVID-19 death toll now more than 2,800; more than 79,000 infected


PEKIN, China - China on Saturday reported 47 more deaths from the new coronavirus (COVID-19), raising the death toll in the country to 2,835.

The National Health Commission also tallied 427 new cases, an increase from the previous day, bringing the total of number of infections to 79,251.

One person died in Beijing and another in Henan province, while 45 died in Hubei.

All but four of the new cases were in Hubei, and 420 were in its capital, Wuhan, where the virus is believed to have originated in a market that sold wild animals.

While the number of new cases rose from 327 on Friday, they remain in the hundreds, far below the huge, daily increases that China was recording more than 10 days ago.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said earlier this week that there were now more daily cases abroad than in China.

China has placed 56 million people in Hubei under strict quarantine for more than a month and limited crowds across the country in an unprecedented effort to contain the virus.

Officials say the country has made progress against the virus but measures remain in place, including the closure of schools. Businesses have slowly started to reopen.

The WHO raised its global spread and impact risk alert to "very high" from "high," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

Meanwhile in the Philippines, as of Friday, there were a total of 621 persons under investigation (PUIs). Of this number, 588 have been discharged and 30 are still admitted in hospitals. Three have been confirmed positive, one of which led to death. —Agence France-Presse/KG, GMA News