Coronavirus outbreak: Nearly another 100 die in China, death toll now 2,442 amid falling infections
Among the 40,127 hospitalised patients in Hubei, 8,583 were still in severe condition and another 1,845 in critical condition. The number of new cases outside of Hubei stood at 18, the lowest since the commission started publishing nationwide data a month ago.
At least 97 more people had died in China of the coronavirus until Saturday midnight, pushing the country-wide death toll to 2442, health officials said Sunday, adding the number of new infections outside the worst-hit central Chinese province of Hubei continued to fall.
The number of new cases of covid-19 rose to 648 as of Saturday, an increase from 397 on Friday, the national health commission (NHC) said.
That brought the total number of confirmed cases in China to 76,936.
Among the 40,127 hospitalised patients in Hubei, 8,583 were still in severe condition and another 1,845 in critical condition. The number of new cases outside of Hubei stood at 18, the lowest since the commission started publishing nationwide data a month ago.
The nationwide death toll rose by 97 to 2,442, but only one new death was outside of Hubei, the officials added.
As many as 22,888 patients infected with the novel coronavirus had been discharged from hospital after recovery by the end of Saturday.
Globally, there’s been worrying spike in cases especially in South Korea and Italy; Iran has reported six deaths.
The number of deaths from the novel coronavirus has risen to 2,461 worldwide: there are over 79,930 cases globally, and at least 19 deaths outside mainland China.
Members of the China-World Health Organisation (WHO) joint expert team traveled to Wuhan Saturday to investigate the COVID-19 outbreak, the NHC said.
The experts had discussions with Wuhan’s health authorities and visited medical and health institutions, the commission said.
Details and findings from the visit are awaited.
In related developments, Wuhan authorities have said all discharged covid-19 patients will undergo another 14-day mandatory quarantine at a designated location under medical observation.
China, state media reported Sunday has directed all its companies to stop using biometric identification systems amid the coronavirus outbreak.
“The systems use fingerprints to verify who is clocking in and clocking out of work, and may increase the risk of virus transmission,” the state media report said.