The National Health Commission said in its daily update that 46 more people had succumbed to the respiratory disease.
All but one of the new deaths came in hardest-hit Hubei province, the epicentre of an outbreak that has spread around the world.
The virus emerged in December in Hubei’s provincial capital Wuhan, and has been traced to a meat market that sold wild game.
The number of infections in China also rose, by 2,102, bringing the nationwide total to 11,791.
