As of March 18, the virus has affected over 167 countries, causing 7,989 deaths so far while near 82,779 patients with the virus have recovered.
The number of newly confirmed novel coronavirus cases in China stands at 13 in the past 24 hours. A total of 11 people died of the infection in the country during the reported period. Some 69,614 patients recovered in China since late December 2019.
Italy reported 345 new coronavirus deaths in the country over the last 24 hours taking its total death toll to 2,503. The total number of cases in Italy rose to 31,506 from a previous 27,980, up 12.6 percent, the slowest rate of increase since the contagion came to light on February 21. Italy is the hardest-hit country in Europe.
Iran stands next with 16,169 infections and 988 deaths as of Tuesday.
167 countries have been grappling with the outbreak since December. The biggest foci are Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Germany, France, the US, Switzerland, the UK, Netherlands, and Norway.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has described the coronavirus pandemic as the "defining global health crisis of our time", and urged countries to test all suspected cases of COVID-19.
MNA/
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