Covid19 infects 1,700 health workers in China

A lot more than 1,700 Chinese medical personnel have already been infected by the new virus which has killed practically 1,400 persons and spread to other areas of Asia and as far as the U.S. and Europe, a senior Chinese official announced Friday.

Six of the staff have died, Zeng Yixin, vice director of the National Health Commission, said at a news conference.

Medical commission is “highly worried about this matter” and has issued guidelines for the prevention and control of infection within medical institutions, he said.

Medical workers take into account about 3.8% of confirmed cases as of three days ago, Zeng said.

The commission also reported another sizable rise in the number of infections therefore of a new method of counting adopted by Hubei province, the hardest-hit area.

Confirmed cases in mainland China rose to 63,851 by the end of Thursday, up 5,090 from the previous day. The death toll rose 121 to 1 1,380.

Hubei province is currently including cases predicated on a physician’s diagnosis before they have already been confirmed by tests. Of the 5,090 new cases, 3,095 fell into that category.

The acceleration in the number of cases will not necessarily represent an abrupt surge in new infections of the virus that causes COVID-19 up to the revised methodology.

The health commission has said that the change was targeted at identifying suspected cases so they can be treated quicker, though experts also saw it as a reflection of the crush of men and women seeking treatment and the battle to match a backlog of untested samples in Hubei and its own capital, Wuhan, where in fact the disease first surfaced in December.

In Taiwan, about 100 members of the family of folks stuck in Hubei province protested outside Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council headquarters in the administrative centre, Taipei.

About 1,000 Taiwanese hoping to fly home on charter flights have sparked a dispute between their government and China.

One flight brought 247 persons back on Feb. 4. Three weren't on a passenger list that Taiwan gave to Chinese authorities and one tested positive for the virus, Taiwan’s Central News Agency has reported.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council wants China to intensify quarantine work and reach agreements with Taiwan on the names of people on priority lists for flights.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office accused Taiwan on Wednesday of “using all sorts of excuses to obstruct and delay” flights. China sees self-ruled Taiwan within its territory instead of an independent state.

“We don’t want to politicize it, we wish charter flights,” said protester Chung Chin-ming, chairman of the Chinese Cross-Strait Marriage Coordination Association in Taipei.

Elsewhere, Japan confirmed seven more cases, a day after it reported its first death from the virus. Japan now has 258 confirmed cases, including 218 from a cruise ship, the Diamond Princess, that is quarantined in Yokohama.

Health officials allowed 11 elderly passengers to leave the ship on Friday once they tested negative for the virus. They are the first group of dozens of older passengers expected to log off the vessel before their 14-day quarantine period ends on Feb. 19 to lessen risks of their health deteriorating.

Japanese Health Minister Katsunobu Kato on Thursday said passengers age 80 or older with chronic medical issues or in cabins without windows that can open can leave the ship if they pass the virus test.

A lot more than 580 cases have already been confirmed outside mainland China and three deaths, one each in the Philippines and Hong Kong and now a Japanese woman in her 80s. Health officials are investigating how she got infected.

In an unprecedented try to contain the disease, the Chinese government has placed the hardest-hit cities - home to more than 60 million - under lockdown. People are restricted from entering or leaving the cities, and in lots of places can only just leave their homes or residential complexes for shopping and other daily needs.