Around 500 passengers will leave a cruise ship quarantined off Japan on Wednesday after testing negative for the new coronavirus that has infected hundreds on board, a health ministry official said on Tuesday.

 A hospital director at the epicentre of China's virus epidemic died Tuesday, state media said, the latest medical worker to fall victim to the coronavirus which has spread across the country.

The death toll from China's coronavirus epidemic climbed to 1,868 on Tuesday as 98 more people died while the total number of confirmed cases jumped to 72,436, officials said.

A powerful bomb blast near a district court in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province killed at least seven persons and injured 19 others on Monday, according to media reports.

The Indian embassy here on Monday said the four Indians infected with the novel coronavirus on board the quarantined cruise ship moored off the Japanese coast were responding well to treatment even as 99 new cases of COVID-19 were reported, taking the number of those infected to 454 on the vessel.

India will send a consignment of medical supplies on a relief flight to Wuhan city later this week to support China in combating the deadly coronavirus outbreak in the country, Indian Embassy in China said on Monday.

 China reported 105 new deaths due to the new coronavirus on Monday, pushing the overall death toll to 1,770, as officials announced stringent measures such as closing non-essential public venues and traffic restrictions to control the epidemic in the worst-hit Hubei province.

Taiwan reported its first death from the new coronavirus Sunday, as the death toll from the outbreak rose to 1,665 inside mainland China.