Trump: 'Confident China is trying very hard' in handling coronavirus outbreak

US President Donald Trump is confident that China is “trying very hard” in its handling of the coronavirus outbreak, he said in a television interview late on Wednesday.

China has reported a dramatic drop in new cases in the province at the heart of the outbreak, although the toll of more than 2,000 ranks the epidemic among the biggest global health emergencies of recent decades.

"Well, I am confident that they are trying very hard," Trump said in an interview with Fox 10 Phoenix. "I think the numbers are going to get progressively better as we go along."

Coronavirus death toll jumps to 2,118

The National Health Commission said that more than 74,500 people have now been infected nationwide by the virus, which first emerged in central Hubei province in December.

The death toll jumped to 2,118 on Thursday after 114 new deaths were reported – most in Hubei province, the hard-hit epicentre of the outbreak.

Most of the new cases were in the provincial capital Wuhan, where the virus first emerged.

Hubei health officials said Thursday there had been 615 new cases in Wuhan and 13 more elsewhere in the province.

However, the Hubei health commission said it was reducing the number of previously reported cases in a number of cities in the province by 279.