China reports 648 new cases of coronavirus on Feb 22, 97 more deaths

SHANGHAI/BEIJING, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Mainland China had 648 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infections on Saturday, the National Health Commission said on Sunday, up from 397 the previous day.

That brings the total number of confirmed cases in China to 76,936 so far

The death toll rose to 2,442, up by 97 from the previous day.

The central province of Hubei, the epicentre of the outbreak, reported 96 new deaths, of which 82 were in the provincial capital, Wuhan.

(Reporting by Emily Chow in Shanghai and Lusha Zhang in Beijing; Editing by Kim Coghill)