BEIJING: China reported a rise in new coronavirus cases in Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak, on Tuesday while the rest of the country saw a fourth-straight day of declines.

Hubei had 499 new confirmed cases on Feb. 24, the National Health Commission said, up from 398 a day earlier and driven mainly by new infections in the provincial capital of Wuhan.

Mainland China in total had 508 new confirmed cases, up from 409 on February 23, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in mainland China so far to 77,658.

Excluding the latest cases in Hubei, the rest of China had just nine new infections on Feb. 24, the lowest number of cases since Jan. 20 when the national health authority began publishing nationwide data on the coronavirus infections.

The overall death toll in mainland China had reached 2,663 as of the end of Monday, up by 71 from the previous day.

Hubei reported 68 new deaths, while in Wuhan, 56 people died.