A medical worker in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province, reportedly died of the novel coronavirus on Saturday morning, the first fatality among health workers since the pneumonia-like illness first surfaced in late December, online news website Paper.cn reported.

File photo: CGTN

Liang Wudong, a 62-year-old doctor with the otolarngology department who treats conditions in the ear, nose and throat at Hubei Xinhua Hospital, was suspected of contracting the new virus on Jan 16. The hospital that he works for is in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak.

On Jan 18, he was transferred to Hubei Jinyintan Hospital, which has received the majority of infected patients, and died at about 7 am on Saturday.

Previously, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said on Tuesday that 15 medical workers were confirmed as contracting the virus, with one suspected case. One of them is critically ill.

Deaths from the novel coronavirus rose to 41 on the Chinese mainland as of Friday midnight, with 1,287 confirmed cases, according to the National Health Commission.