By Merlina Hernando-Malipot
China has reported what so far is the “deadliest day” for the new coronavirus strain after its National Health Commission (NHC) confirmed 86 fatalities in the mainland on Feb. 7, bringing the death toll to 722.
(REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo/MANILA BULLETIN)
Based on the daily briefing on novel coronavirus cases in China, the NHC said that as of Feb. 7, 2020, there were 86 reported deaths due to the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), with 81 deaths in Hubei province; 2 in Heilongjiang province, one in Beijing, one in Henan province, and one in Gansu province.
The NHC also noted that 31 provincial-level regions on the Chinese mainland as well as the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps also reported 3,399 new cases of confirmed infections, including 2,841 in Hubei province; 4,214 new cases of suspected infections, including 2,073 in Hubei province; and 1,280 new serious cases, including 1,193 in Hubei province.
As of Feb. 7, the NHC reported that it has received 34,546 reports of confirmed cases and 722 deaths in 31 provincial-level regions on the Chinese mainland. “There still remained 31,774 confirmed cases, including 6,101 in serious condition, and 27,657 suspected cases,” the NHC said. “So far, 345,498 people have been identified as having had close contact with infected patients 189,660 are now under medical observation,” it added.
Meanwhile, data from NHC also showed that there were 510 patients released from hospitals after being cured, including 298 in Hubei province.
There are also a total of 26,702 people who had had close contact with infected patients but were already released from medical observation.
NHC also said that 2,050 patients were already cured and discharged from hospital.