Mainland China’s novel coronavirus death toll has hit 1,770 at the end of Sunday, Feb. 16.

This was after 105 more people died, the country’s National Health Commission reported.

A total of 70,548 have now been infected nationwide by the virus, which first emerged in December 2019 in central Hubei province before spreading across the country.

#LATEST on #COVID19 outbreak in China, as of Feb 16:
- 70,548 confirmed cases in Chinese mainland
- 1,770 deaths
- 10,844 discharged from hospital pic.twitter.com/OY2YPE7its

— People's Daily, China (@PDChina) February 17, 2020

Most cases are still in Hubei, where nearly 2,000 were reported in this latest update.

But these figures for new cases were around 100 higher than the day before, but still sharply down on those from Friday and Saturday.

New cases declining

New cases outside of the epicentre have been declining for the last 13 days.

New confirmed cases of #COVID19 outside Hubei Province in the Chinese mainland have dropped for 13 consecutive days, from 890 on Feb 3 to 115 on Feb 16, according to the National Health Commission. pic.twitter.com/XXz84O6ZFp

— People's Daily, China (@PDChina) February 17, 2020

There were 115 fresh cases outside the central province.

This means that new confirmed cases outside Hubei Province in the Chinese mainland have dropped for 13 consecutive days, from 890 on Feb. 3 to 115 on Feb. 16.

This figure was sharply down from nearly 450 a week ago.

A spokesman for China's national health authority said that the slowdown was a sign the outbreak was being controlled.

However, World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned it is "impossible to predict which direction this epidemic will take".

Top photo via People's Daily