- Though most of the infections and deaths have occurred in China, the past week has seen a sharp rise in reported cases and fatalities overseas
- Most new infections in South Korea traced to a minor Christian sect in southeastern city
Coronavirus infections have surged in South Korea, with authorities reporting a six-fold jump in viral cases in four days.
The announcement on Saturday came as China reported a drop in new infections " from 889 a day earlier to 397.
The National Health Commission said that another 109 people had died in mainland China, taking the death toll to 2,345.
In all, the country has reported 76,288 cases of the virus.
The commission also said 2,393 patients were discharged from hospital on Friday, with 20,659 recovered in total.
There were also 1,361 new suspected cases, compared with 1,641 a day earlier.
Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak, reported 366 new confirmed cases and 106 new deaths " most of them in the provincial capital, Wuhan. One confirmed case was reported in a prison.
Spike in cases in South Korea
Though most of the infections and deaths have occurred in China, there has also been a sharp rise in reported cases and fatalities overseas in the past week, including four deaths in Iran and hundreds of confirmed infections in South Korea.
South Korea reported 142 new cases of the new coronavirus on Saturday, bringing the total in that country to 346, Yonhap news agency reported.
The number of infections has spiked in the past several days, with most new infections traced to a minor Christian sect in the southeastern city of Daegu.
On Friday, South Korea declared Daegu and neighbouring Cheongdo county "special care zones" because of a cluster of coronavirus cases there in recent days.
Two South Korean coronavirus patients, who had pneumonia, died earlier this week, but public health authorities said the outbreak was still "manageable".
On Friday, Italy reported its first death from the epidemic, Ansa news agency reported.
WHO team to go Wuhan
The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday that the window of opportunity for containing the disease was "narrowing".
"We need to act quickly before it closes completely," WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in Geneva.
An investigative mission of WHO experts in China is set to travel to Wuhan on Saturday to assess conditions in the city were the coronavirus is believed to have broken out.
The visit comes come after a series of U-turns by national and local health authorities in their counting methods, sowing confusion and amplifying concerns about the accuracy of official data.
Xi Jinping thanks Bill and Melinda Gates
Chinese President Xi Jinping has thanked philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates for their foundation's support to China at a critical time.
Earlier this month, the foundation said it would provide up to US$100 million for the global response to the epidemic. The foundation said that some of the money would be used to accelerate the detection, isolation and treatment of the coronavirus in China and other countries that have confirmed cases.
In a letter to the couple, Xi complimented the foundation for its early efforts in the global fight against the virus and said he was grateful for the Gates' support for the Chinese people, state news agency Xinhua reported.
"Unity and cooperation is the most powerful weapon" in the battle against the virus, Xi said in the letter, indicating his support for the foundation's coordination with Chinese agencies on the ground.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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