Seoul reports 256 new cases pushing total number past 2,000 while Beijing says new infections continue to decrease.

China's National Health Commission reported on Friday at least 44 new deaths from the coronavirus infection as of the end of Thursday, bringing to 2,788 the number of fatalities nationwide.

The agency also reported 327 new confirmed cases during the same period, down from 433 on Wednesday, raising the total number of infections to 78,824.

Most of the reported new deaths and infections were from the province of Hubei, the epicentre of the deadly disease.

Meanwhile, South Korea reported 256 new coronavirus cases on Friday, bringing the total number of infected in the country to 2,022.

In the United States, public health officials were retracing the steps of a Northern California woman on Thursday believed to be the first person in the US to contract the highly contagious coronavirus without having travelled internationally, or coming into close contact with anyone who had.