BEIJING: China coronavirus outbreak took toll of death to 722 while people infected with deadly virus had crossed 34,546 by Saturday afternoon.
The death and infections has surpassed from the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak on the mainland and Hong Kong almost two decades ago.
On Friday, the death of 34-year-old Wuhan doctor, Li Wenliang, who sounded the alarm about the virus in December only to be punished, sparked an outpouring of grief and anger over the government’s handling of the crisis.
The virus has prompted several governments to ban arrivals from China and urge their citizens to avoid travelling to the country. Some have recommended that their citizens leave China.
Wuhan opens second makeshift hospital to fight virus. Wuhan has opened another makeshift hospital, providing 1,500 beds, state media reported.
The first medical team has arrived at the Leishenshan hospital in virus-hit city and patients will be admitted, state-run CCTV reported. It said the hospital has 32 wards and a surgical operating room.
China has appointed Wang Hesheng as a member of the provincial committee of the Communist Party in Hubei province, state television reported on Saturday.
Wang has served in the public health system for years, making him well-placed to help in the country’s fight against the coronavirus outbreak.
A total of 14 out of 138 patients (10 percent) in a Wuhan hospital who were studied in the new paper by Chinese authors in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) initially presented with diarrhea and nausea one or two days before developing fever and labored breathing.
Read more: Death toll in Coronavirus hits 636, more than 30,000 infected
