China's Ambassador to India Sun Weidong thanked popular sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik for his support in the fight against the novel coronavirus outbreak in China.
Pattnaik created a sand art at Puri beach in Odisha to show his support. He posted the picture of his sand art on Twitter and captioned, "We stand with #China: My #SandArt with the message, Fight against #CORONAVIRUS at Puri beach, #Odisha."
The Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Weidong appreciated Pattnaik for his support. He wrote, "Appreciate this message."
Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also thanked Pattnaik. Taking to Twitter, he wrote, "Such a beautiful way to express solidarity to the people of #China during this challenging #2019nCoV outbreak. Thank you, @sudarsansand."
Meanwhile, the death toll due to the novel coronavirus outbreak in China has exceeded 1,000, authorities said on Tuesday, while the number of confirmed cases has crossed 42,000.
According to the data from China's National Health Commission, 108 more deaths and 2,478 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection were reported on Monday from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, Xinhua reported.
Among the deaths, 103 were in Hubei Province, and one each in Beijing, Tianjin, Heilongjiang, Anhui and Henan, according to China's National Health Commission.
Another 3,536 new suspected cases were reported on Monday, said the commission.
Outside China, there have been more than 350 infections reported in almost 30 places with two deaths, one in the Philippines and the other in Hong Kong.
Several countries have banned arrivals from China while major airlines have suspended flights to the country.
China and countries around the world are scrambling to contain the spread of coronavirus which is wreaking havoc in China and abroad. Apart from Germany, Britain and Italy, other European nations with cases of the virus include France, Russia, Belgium, Sweden, Finland and Spain.
(With input from PTI)
