Coronaviurus: 29 foreigners infected by in China, says official (Image for representation)
Twenty-nine foreign nationals in China were infected with the novel coronavirus and 18 of them have recovered, a Chinese official said on Thursday. Ding Xiangyang, deputy secretary-general of the State Council, told the media in Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus outbreak, that 18 of the 27 patients have been discharged from hospitals. Nine are in quarantine and receiving treatment at hospitals, and two others died due to infection, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted Ding as saying.
He, however, did not disclose the nationalities of the patients.
An elderly American and a Japanese national died due to the virus in Wuhan, the capital of the worst-hit Hubei province.
Earlier, four Pakistanis contracted the disease. Chinese officials said three of them had recovered and discharged from the hospitals.
Chinese officials on Thursday said that the death toll from the coronavirus has climbed to 2,118 with the death of 114 more people on Wednesday, while the overall confirmed cases increased to 74,576.
Most of the casualties are from Hubei and its capital Wuhan.
As the virus fears grew, India announced plans to operate a third special flight to airlift about 100 Indians who are still in Hubei province.
India so far evacuated 647 Indians and seven Maldivians from the virus-hit Wuhan city early this month.
A number of countries including US, UK, Japan Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal have evacuated hundreds of their nationals while about 800 to 1,000 Pakistanis are still in the area.
