Chinese health officials on Thursday reported a significant spike in the number of deaths from the coronavirus.

Officials revealed that 254 new deaths from the coronavirus were reported in a single day; with an additional 15,152, new cases of the virus confirmed.

Among the new fatalities, 242, twice as many as on the previous day, were in the Hubei province,according to Mi Feng, a spokesperson with the National Health Commission.

The drastic increase in the numbers, when compared to the previous day, comes as a new testing methodology which deals with how cases are categorized has now been implemented.

In explaining the dramatic spike, Feng, said that the epicenter had adopted a revised diagnosis plan aimed at accelerating the identification and treatment of virus cases.

The total deaths from the virus now stands at 1,367, with the total number of new cases having climb to an alarming 59,804.

Leading health experts from around the world have been meeting at the World Health Organization’s Geneva headquarters to assess the current level of knowledge about the new coronavirus, which was recently named the COVID-19 disease.

The 2-day forum was convened in line with the WHO R&D Blueprint – a strategy for developing drugs and vaccines before epidemics, and accelerating research and development while they are occurring.

“This outbreak is a test of solidarity — political, financial and scientific. We need to come together to fight a common enemy that does not respect borders, ensure that we have the resources necessary to bring this outbreak to an end and bring our best science to the forefront to find shared answers to shared problems. Research is an integral part of the outbreak response,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“I appreciate the positive response of the research community to join us at short notice and come up with concrete plans and a commitment to work together,” he added.