China sees new virus cases as death toll rises

Chinese authorities on Monday reported hook upturn in new virus cases and 105 more deaths for a complete of 1 1,770 since the outbreak began two months ago.

The 2 2,048 new cases followed three days of declines but was up by simply 39 cases from the previous day’s figure. Another 10,844 people have recovered from COVID-19, an illness caused by the new coronavirus, and also have been discharged from hospitals, according to Monday’s figures.

The update followed the publication late Saturday in China’s official media of a recent speech by President Xi Jinping where he indicated for the first time that he previously led the response to the outbreak from early in the crisis. As the reports were an apparent attempt to demonstrate the Communist Party leadership acted decisively right away, in addition, it opened Xi up to criticism over why the general public had not been alerted sooner.

In his speech, Xi said he gave instructions on fighting the virus on Jan. 7 and ordered the shutdown of the most-affected cities that commenced on Jan. 23.

The disclosure of his speech indicates top leaders knew about the outbreak’s potential severity at least fourteen days before such dangers were made recognized to the public. It had been not until late January that officials said the virus can spread between humans and public alarm started to rise.

New cases far away are raising growing concerns about containment of the virus.

Taiwan on Sunday reported its first death from COVID-19, the fifth fatality beyond mainland China. Taiwan’s Central News Agency, citing health minister Chen Shih-chung, said the man who died was in his 60s and hadn't traveled overseas recently and had no known contact with virus patients.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe convened an authorities meeting to go over containment measures in his country, where greater than a dozen cases have emerged in the past few days without the obvious connect to China.

“The problem surrounding this virus is changing by when,” Abe said.

Japanese Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said the united states is “getting into a phase that is not the same as before,” requiring new steps to stop the spread of the virus.

Japan now has 413 confirmed cases, including 355 from a quarantined cruise liner, and one death from the virus. Its total may be the highest number of instances among about two dozen countries beyond China where in fact the illness has spread.

Hundreds of Americans from the cruise liner took charter flights home, as Japan announced another 70 infections have been confirmed on the Diamond Princess. Canada, Hong Kong and Italy were planning similar flights.

The 300 roughly Americans flying on U.S.-government chartered aircraft back to the U.S. will face another 14-day quarantine at Travis Air Force Base in California and Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. The U.S. Embassy said the departure was offered because persons on the ship were at a high risk of contact with the virus. People who have symptoms were banned from the flights.

About 255 Canadians and 330 Hong Kong residents are on board the ship or undergoing treatment in Japanese hospitals. Additionally, there are 35 Italians, which 25 are crew members, including the captain.

In China’s Hubei province, where in fact the outbreak commenced in December, all vehicle traffic will be banned in another containment measure. It expands a vehicle ban in the provincial capital, Wuhan, where public transportation, trains and planes have already been halted for weeks.

Exceptions were being made for vehicles involved in epidemic prevention and transporting daily necessities.

Hubei has generated new hospitals with a large number of patient beds and China has sent a large number of military medical personnel to staff the brand new facilities and help the overburdened healthcare system.

Last Thursday, Hubei changed how it recognized COVID-19 cases, accepting a doctor’s diagnosis rather than looking forward to confirmed laboratory test results, so that you can treat patients faster. The tally spiked by a lot more than 15,000 cases under the new method.