‘COVID-19’ Death Toll Hits 242 in a Single Day, Biggest Rise Ever, As China Reports 14,840 New Cases of Coronavirus on Wednesday
Health official's in China's Hubei Province, the epicentre of Coronavirus outbreak, reported 14,840 new cases of COVID-19 was reported on Wednesday. 242 people also died from novel Coronavirus pneumonia on Wednesday- more than twice the previous high- pushing the death toll to 1,310.
Wuhan, February 13: Health official's in China's Hubei Province, the epicentre of Coronavirus outbreak, reported 14,840 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday. 242 people also died from novel Coronavirus pneumonia on Wednesday- more than twice the previous high- pushing the death toll to 1,310. This brings total infected cases to 48,206 as of February 12. Coronavirus Death Toll in Hubei Surges by 242 in One Day.
The health officials have changed the diagnostic criteria to confirm 2019-nCoV positive cases effective from Thursday. "From today on, we will include the number of clinically diagnosed cases into the number of confirmed cases so that patients could receive timely treatment," the health authority said. 'COVID-19': WHO Gives Official Name to Novel Coronavirus That Killed Over 1,100 People in China.
In an attempt to control the virus, China's military is sending over 2,500 medical personnel to Hubei, state news broadcaster CCTV reported. The first batch of 1,400 medical officials will arrive on Thursday.
At least 25 countries have reported positive cases of the pathogen and several nationals have evacuated their citizens from Hubei. At least two deaths have been recorded outside mainland China- one in the Philippines and one in Hong Kong.
Recently, the World Health Organisation (WHO) gave official name to Coronavirus as "Covid-19". The "CO" stands for corona, while the "VI" for virus and the "D" for the disease.
The virus had been tentatively referred to as novel Coronavirus pneumonia. Some people refer to the illness as the "China virus" or "Wuhan virus."With 99 per cent of cases in China, this remains very much an emergency for that country, but one that holds a very grave threat for the rest of the world," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 13, 2020 09:49 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).