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Coronavirus Death Toll Climbed to 258 in China

BEIJING: The death toll from the Wuhan virus outbreak has risen to 258 and the tally of confirmed infections has surged to nearly 12,000, the Chinese government said on Saturday.

The National Health Commission said in its daily update that 46 more people had succumbed to the respiratory disease.

All but one of the new deaths came in hardest-hit Hubei province, the epicentre of an outbreak that has spread around the world.

The virus emerged in December in Hubei’s provincial capital Wuhan and has been traced to a meat market that sold the wild game.

The number of infections in China also rose, by 2,102, bringing the nationwide total to 11,791.

The epidemic has spread far and wide as Chinese people travelled across the country and the world for the Lunar New Year holiday that started last week.

It has since ballooned into a global health emergency with cases in more than 20 countries.

The top Communist Party official in Wuhan expressed “remorse” on Friday, saying local authorities acted too slowly in containing the virus.