The number of Chinese patients who have recovered from the coronavirus is greater than the number who are still being treated.

The tipping point came in late February, and has held — as of March 6 there have been 53,880 recoveries in China, compared to 23,676 outstanding infections.

However, outside of China — including in Iran, Italy, and South Korea — the virus is continuing to pick up speed.

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Figures released by the Chinese government in early March showed a new and optimistic trend: the total number of people to have recovered from the coronavirus exceeded the number who were sick.

The tipping point came around the end of February, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, and has continued strongly since as more and more people get better.

As of Friday, there are more than twice as many people who recovered than are still sick.

According to the latest, there has been a total of 80,556 cases — a figure which includes all people confirmed to have ever been sick, including those who died, and those who are well again.

In China as of Friday, 3,044 have died (this includes one death in Taiwan), meaning that the remaining number of people still to be sick is smaller than the number of people to have got better.

To look at China's figures another way, as of Friday there are:

80,556 all-time infections

3,044 deaths

53,880 recoveries

23,676 outstanding infections

There have been some reports of coronavirus patients recovering but then falling sick again, which would complicate the picture painted by the figures above. However, thus far re-infection seems not to be widespread.

Taken as a whole, the data suggests that China, which still has by far the majority of cases worldwide, is over the worst of its crisis.

Mi Feng, a spokesperson for China's National Health Commission, said at a recent briefing: "The rapid rising trend of virus cases in Wuhan has been controlled," according to Reuters.

"Outbreaks in Hubei outside of Wuhan are curbed and provinces outside of Hubei are showing a positive trend," he added.

As of March 6, 18,149 cases had been reported outside of China, with growing hotspots in Iran, Italy and South Korea.