China's death toll from a new virus has increased to 304 with more than 14,000 cases, amid warnings from the World Health Organization that other countries need to be prepared in the event the disease spreads among their populations.

Iran Press/Asia: Figures from the National Health Commission released Sunday show an increase of 45 in the death toll and 2,590 in the number of cases for a total of 14,380.

The virus's rapid spread in two months prompted the World Health Organization on Thursday to declare it a global emergency.

Meanwhile, six officials in the city of Huanggang, neighboring the epicenter of Wuhan in Hubei province, have been fired over poor performance" in handling the outbreak, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

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