Xi calls for greater protection of medical staff as coronavirus death toll crosses 2,000

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for greater protection of medical workers fighting the coronavirus after causalities among them showed an upward trend as the death toll from the epidemic crossed the 2,000-mark on Wednesday, authorities said.

China's National Health Commission (NHC) in its daily report said that 136 people died on Tuesday taking the total death toll to 2,004 so far due to the virus also called COVID-19.

Of the new deaths, 132 were reported from the worst-hit Hubei province for which Wuhan is the provincial capital and one each from Heilongjiang, Shandong, Guangdong and Guizhou.

Over 74,100 people have now been infected by the deadly virus in China, with more than 1,000 other cases detected in at least 25 countries.

Another 1,185 new suspected cases have been reported on Tuesday in China, while 236 patients became seriously ill and 11,977 patients remained in severe condition, the commission said, indicating that the condition of the large number of people who ...