Coronavirus: China Reports 27 New Fatalities, Death Count Rises To 3,097

China's death count from the new coronavirus rose to 3,097 on Sunday, after the National Health Commission reported 27 more fatalities. The confirmed cases for the first time fell below 50 since COVID-19 surfaced in Hubei province in January. Of the 44 new cases reported on Saturday, 41 were in Wuhan in Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak. This brings the total number of cases in mainland China past 80,695. Over 20,500 patients were still undergoing treatment and 57,065 discharged after recovery, the NHC said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Saturday that a total of 21,114 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported by 93 countries and regions outside China - an increase of 3,633 infections from the previous day.

Meanwhile in Italy, the government is planning to quarantine region around Milan as well as areas around and including Venice and the northern cities of Parma and Rimini to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Italy's death toll from the novel coronavirus rose by 36 to 233 on Saturday while the number of infections shot up by a single-day record of 1,247 to hit 5,883.

Milan is the Italian financial capital and has a population of just under 1.4 million people. The entire Lombardy region is home to 10 million. However, it was not clear when the plan will be implemented.

Italy has recorded the most deaths of any country outside China and the third-most COVID-19 infections after China and South Korea.

In Iran, death toll continued to rise on Saturday with 21 more people killed, including a politician who became the eighth official to succumb to the disease. On Saturday, a newly elected conservative MP for the city was the second Iranian lawmaker killed by the virus, state news agency IRNA reported.

Fatemeh Rahbar, 55, served as MP from 2004 to 2016 and was among the top candidates in Tehran for the conservatives, who overwhelmingly won February's general election marked by the lowest turnout in the Islamic republic's history. Seven other politicians and government officials have died in the outbreak since the country reported its first cases in mid-February.

(With PTI inputs)