BEIJING: Death toll officially confirmed by Chinese authorities crossed a grim landmark of 1,016 figures while the number of cases of infection also grew, to over 42,638. The figure for the day before was put at 40,171.
Chinese President Xi Jinping made a rare public appearance when he visited a city hospital.
Chinese officials on Tuesday stated that the government put the nationwide figure at 1,016. That was up 108 from the day before, when it was 908.
Deaths in Hubei drove the increase — there were 103 — though the number of infections reported there actually declined somewhat.
The patient, one of 167 passengers on a State Department-arranged flight from China that mostly carried American citizens, has been taken to a hospital near Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego.
Chinese President Xi Jinping made a rare public appearance when he visited a city hospital. He took part in a video conference with officials and hospital workers in Wuhan, the city at the center of the coronavirus.
President Xi Jinping of China, the authoritarian leader who had been noticeably absent from public view since the coronavirus outbreak escalated into a crisis, toured several public places in Beijing on Monday afternoon. The appearances seemed aimed at countering criticism that Mr. Xi has been aloof amid rising public discontent with his government’s struggle to contain the crisis.
The last time President Xi had appeared in public was at a meeting last week with Cambodia’s prime minister. Mr. Xi has yet to visit the epicenter of the outbreak, Wuhan, 600 miles to the south in Hubei Province.
Chinese press reports said Xi traveled first to a neighborhood roughly five miles north of his residence near the Forbidden City and toured a local government office. He later visited a city hospital, where he took part in a video conference with officials and workers at a hospital in Wuhan.
Xi, wearing a powder blue surgical mask and a black suit, made no public remarks, at least according to initial reports. But state media said his visits demonstrated Mr. Xi’s central role in directing the response, as well as his empathy for the ordinary people it has affected most.
China’s leader made his first public appearance since last week, visiting several sites in the capital. ‘It’s like Europe in medieval times.’ China’s economy has been idled.
World Health Organization officials have praised China’s aggressive response to the virus by closing transportation, schools and markets. This week, a team of experts from the WHO arrived in Beijing to offer assistance.
Read more: Coronavirus crosses 900 deaths and 40,000 confirmed infections in China
