38 more killed in Coronavirus outbreak in China
China on Wednesday reported 38 more deaths from the new coronavirus but a fall in fresh cases for a third consecutive day.
The death toll nationwide is now 2,981, the National Health Commission said, with more than 80,200 people infected in total.
There were 115 new cases in central Hubei province — the epicentre where the virus first emerged in December last year — and only four elsewhere in the country.
The figures in China have generally been declining in recent weeks as a series of draconian quarantine measures seem to be paying off.
But there are mounting concerns about infections being brought back into the country from other global hotspots.
In total there have been 13 confirmed cases of the virus being imported to the mainland — all in Chinese nationals returning from overseas.
Quarantine measures have been put in place on people arriving in Beijing, Shanghai and southern Guangdong province from virus-hit countries.
The number of suspected infections in China fell to the lowest level since late January, at 520 cases — down from nearly 29,000 suspected cases reported in early February.
Meanwhile, the United States death toll from the novel coronavirus rose to nine on Tuesday, all in the state of Washington and many of them residents of the same nursing home, officials said.
Eight of the deaths have been in King County, which encompasses Seattle, and one was in neighbouring Snohomish County.
Nationwide, there are more than 100 confirmed cases, on both coasts and in the Midwest.
The Life Care Centre, a nursing home and rehabilitation facility in the Seattle suburbs, is at the centre of the Washington outbreak so far. The centre has banned visits from family members until further notice, and suspended new admissions.
Susan Gregg, a spokeswoman for Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center, where one patient died, said public health officials were identifying care workers who had come in contact with the victim.
‘In coordination with Public Health, we have determined that some staff may have been exposed while working in an intensive care unit where the patient had been treated,’ Gregg said.
Health officials around the world have been scrambling to contain the spread of the virus.
US president Donald Trump visited the National Institutes of Health outside the US capital for an update on efforts to develop a vaccine.
He said that for now, the government was not looking at any domestic travel restrictions, describing Washington state as the ‘one hot spot’ for now.
US experts ‘have been just ahead of it,’ Trump said.
The Republican president said he was not looking at banning mass gatherings for the time being, including the upcoming annual ‘March Madness’ college basketball championship.
News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net
