The number of people who have been infected with novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outside China has reached 12,668, the latest report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Wednesday. The death toll outside China stands at 214, as 48 new deaths were registered in the past 24 hours.
"Four new Member States (Argentina, Chile, Poland, and Ukraine) have reported cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours", WHO said.
The total number of confirmed cases is now 93,090, with 80,422 of them registered in China alone.
South Korea remains the worst-affected nation with COVID-19 outside China, with over 5,600 confirmed cases and at least 28 deaths from the outbreak.
Italy currently has the highest number of coronavirus cases in Europe - 3,089, according to Angelo Borrelli, the head of the national Civil Protection Agency. The death toll has risen from 79 to 107 over the past 24 hours.
Iran is the country affected most in the Middle East, as some 2,922 have been contracted with COVID-19 and 92 more have been killed, according to the latest data.
The outbreak of pneumonia caused by a new strain of coronavirus was first identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan, Hubei province, last December.
China's response to the coronavirus has been swift and sweeping. Clinical trials of a vaccine against COVID-19 in China will most likely begin in late April, Chinese vice-minister for science and technology Xu Nanping said in late February.
