Beijing, Feb 7 (PTI) The Death toll in China's novel coronavirus epidemic has climbed to 636 with 73 mortalities on Thursday, Chinese health officials said on Friday.

Hubei province and its provincial capital Wuhan, which are the epicentre of the virus outbreak, reported 69 deaths on Thursday while Jilin, Henan, Guangdong and Hainan provinces reported one each, China's National Health Commission said.

A total of 73 people died on Thursday and 31,161 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection had been reported from 31 provincial-level regions, the commission said.

Also, a total of 1,540 patients infected with the virus had been discharged from hospital after recovery by the end of Thursday, it said, highlighting that a large number of people getting cured.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)