New coronavirus is ‘preventable and treatable’: China health official

The hospital administration said the percentage of infected patients have dropped by 20%.

The novel coronavirus that has killed more than 1,700 people in China is “preventable and treatable”, an official from the country’s National Health Commission said on Monday.

A guard stands at the gate of the Shanghai Public Clinical Center Shanghai, where the coronavirus patients are quarantined, in Shanghai, China. (REUTERS)

Guo Yanhong, a hospital administration supervisor at the commission, made the remarks at a daily press conference, in which she also said the percentage of infected patients in virus epicentre Wuhan who are critically ill had dropped to 18% now from 38% at the beginning of the outbreak.