What we know so far: First confirmed novel coronavirus case in Philippines

Follow this page for updates on a mysterious pneumonia outbreak that has struck dozens of people in China.

The number of daily COVID-19 deaths in China has fallen by nearly 80% since the start of the month, authorities have said, in a sign that the country's unprecedented infection surge may have started to abate.

A wave of virus cases has washed over the world's most populous nation since Beijing abruptly ended its zero-COVID policy last month.

Beijing's figures are believed to only represent a fraction of the true toll, given China's narrow definition of a COVID death and official estimates that swathes of the population have been infected.

The CDC last week said nearly 13,000 people had died from Covid-related illnesses between January 13 and 19, adding to a previous announcement that around 60,000 people had succumbed to the virus in hospitals in just over a month.

But recent local government announcements and media reports have indicated that the wave may have started to recede since peaking in late December and early January when hospitals and crematoriums were packed.

There were 896 deaths attributable to the virus in hospitals on Monday, a decline of 79 percent from January 4, China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a statement on Wednesday. — AFP

The number of daily COVID-19 deaths in China has fallen by nearly 80% since the start of the month, authorities have said, in a sign that the country's unprecedented infection surge may have started to abate.

A wave of virus cases has washed over the world's most populous nation since Beijing abruptly ended its zero-COVID policy last month.

Beijing's figures are believed to only represent a fraction of the true toll, given China's narrow definition of a COVID death and official estimates that swathes of the population have been infected.

The CDC last week said nearly 13,000 people had died from Covid-related illnesses between January 13 and 19, adding to a previous announcement that around 60,000 people had succumbed to the virus in hospitals in just over a month.

But recent local government announcements and media reports have indicated that the wave may have started to recede since peaking in late December and early January when hospitals and crematoriums were packed.

There were 896 deaths attributable to the virus in hospitals on Monday, a decline of 79 percent from January 4, China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a statement on Wednesday. — AFP

China reported nearly 13,000 Covid-related deaths in hospitals between January 13 and 19, after a top health official said the vast majority of the population has already been infected by the virus.

China a week earlier said nearly 60,000 people had died with Covid in hospitals as of January 12, but there has been widespread scepticism over official data since Beijing abruptly axed anti-virus controls last month.

China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a statement on Saturday that 681 hospitalised patients had died of respiratory failure caused by coronavirus infection, and 11,977 had died of other diseases combined with an infection over the period. 

The figures do not include those who died from the virus at home.-- AFP

South Korea will drop rules that require people to wear masks in most indoor spaces, authorities say, ending one of the country's last major pandemic restrictions as COVID-19 cases dwindle.

From January 30, it will no longer be mandatory to wear facemasks in most indoor spaces, except on public transport and in medical facilities.

The mask mandate has been in place since October 2020, and is one of South Korea's last remaining pandemic-era restrictions, with other rules from business curfews to social distancing long dropped. — AFP

Xi Jinping says he is "concerned" about the virus situation in the Chinese countryside, state media reported, as millions of people head to rural hometowns ahead of upcoming Lunar New Year celebrations.

The Chinese leader also defended his zero-Covid policy -- lifted last month after crippling the economy and sparking nationwide protests -- saying it had been "the right choice".

In a series of calls Wednesday ahead of the holiday, the Chinese leader told local officials he worried about the situation in the country's rural hinterlands.

"Xi said he was primarily concerned about rural areas and rural residents after the country adjusted its Covid-19 response measures," state news agency Xinhua reports.

He "stressed efforts to improve medical care for those most vulnerable to the virus in rural areas," Xinhua says.

"Epidemic prevention and control has entered a new stage, and we are still in a period that requires great efforts," Xi was reported as saying, stressing the need to "address the shortcomings in epidemic prevention and control in rural areas". — AFP