China's coronavirus death toll climbs to 813 but new cases fall

death toll in China's coronavirus outbreak jumped to 813 on Sunday, surpassing global fatalities in 2002-03 SARS epidemic, even as Chinese officials said cases of infection have started dropping for first time after weeks of sharp rise.

With 91 more people dying, most in Hubei province, vel coronavirus death toll is w higher than 774 people killed worldwide by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic that started in sourn China.

China's National Health Commission in its daily report on Sunday said 2,656 new confirmed cases were reported, taking total number of people infected with dely virus in 31 provincial-level regions in China to 37,287.

commission said China's new confirmed cases of coronavirus pneumonia outside Hubei Province, ground zero of epidemic, have been dropping for five consecutive days.

A total of 509 new confirmed cases were reported on Saturday outside Hubei, about 42.8 percent lower than number reported on Monday, Mi Feng, spokesperson of NHC was quoted by state-run Xinhua news ncy on Sunday.

numbers of new confirmed cases in se provinces during past days were 890 (Monday), 731 (Tuesday), 707 (Wednesday), 696 (Thursday) and 558 (Friday).

"It shows that joint prevention and control mechanism incorporating different regions in country, as well as strict manment, are taking effect," Mi said.

As per data released by commission, confirmed cases in Hubei showed a drop perhaps for first time since virulent virus emerged in province in December.

On Saturday, Hubei reported 2,147 new confirmed cases of vel coronavirus infection, commission said. figure is 694 less compared with new confirmed cases reported in previous day, it said.

Hubei's capital Wuhan reported 1,379 new infections and 63 new deaths, and cities of Xiaogan and Huanggang reported 123 and 100 new confirmed cases, respectively, according to provincial health commission.

Hubei alone reported 27,100 confirmed cases of vel coronavirus infection, with 780 deaths and 5,247 cases in severe or critical condition.

Also, 1,439 patients have been discharged from hospital after recovery, it said.

On Saturday, an American woman and a Japanese man became first foreigners to have died from new coronavirus in China.

only fatalities outside mainland have been a Chinese man in Philippines and a 39-year-old man in Hong Kong.

Several countries have banned arrivals from China while major airlines have suspended flights.

So far 316 cases have been reported from about 26 countries including India where three people in Kerala who returned from Wuhan contracted virus. Japan has highest number of 96 cases, followed by Singapore 40 and Thailand 32.

Meanwhile, he of World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Saturday that UN health ncy will send an international mission to China as it received a response from Beijing.

WHO Director-General Tedros ham Ghebreyesus said team leer will leave early next week with rest of experts to follow.

UN health ncy said number of cases of coronavirus in China is "stabilising", which is a "good news".

It, however, cautioned that it was too early to make any predictions about wher virus might have peaked.

"re has been a stabilisation in number of cases reported from Hubei," Michael Ryan, he of WHO's Health Emergencies Programme said at a briefing in Geneva.

"We're in a four-day stable period where number of reported cases hasn't vanced. That's good news and may reflect impact of control measures that have been put in place," Ryan was quoted as saying.

But he ded that it was "very early to make any predictions".

Ghebreyesus said trend was "t really accelerating" but vised "caution".

WHO officials have said that less than two percent of those affected by coronavirus have died. An initial analysis of 17,000 coronavirus infections in mainland China shows that 82 percent of cases are classified as mild and 15 percent as severe, and that three percent of patients have developed critical symptoms, Maria Van Kerkhove, technical le of WHO told media on Friday in Geneva.

As per data obtained from Chinese authorities showed that “two per cent or less than two per cent” of reported cases have resulted in deaths, she said.

“We kw that individuals who are at an vanced are at a higher likelihood of dying, we kw that underlying conditions … make people more at risk,” Kerkhove said.

Chinese official media has accused world of overreaction to coronavirus with travel bans and flight cancellations.

“ number of people infected outside of China is less than one percent number in China. But that hard-earned result is thing in eyes of some, who always have an axe to grind when it comes to China," an editorial in state-run China Daily on Sunday said.

“Although death rate dropped from 2.1 percent to below 2 percent late last week, after growth in number of people infected outside of Hubei province, centre of epidemic, decelerated five days in a row, continuing epidemic has simply provided m with fresh ammunition with which to target China," it said.

(Im Credit- PTI)