COVID-19 toll rises to 3,237 in China

Beijing: The death toll due to the COVID-19 outbreak in China has increased to 3,237, authorities said on Wednesday, while the number of confirmed cases in the Asian country has risen to 80,894.

Chinese health authorities reported 11 deaths and 13 newly confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection on the Chinese mainland on Tuesday, Xinhua reported.

All deaths were reported in Hubei Province, according to the National Health Commission.

Also on Tuesday, 21 newly suspected cases were reported. A total of 922 people were discharged from hospital after recovery, while the number of severe cases decreased by 208 to 2,622.

The overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 80,894 until midnight, including 8,056 patients who were still being treated, 69,601 patients who had been discharged after recovery, and 3,237 people who lost their lives. The commission said that 119 people were still suspected of being infected with the virus.

The commission added that 9,222 close contacts were still under medical observation. On Tuesday, 1,014 people were discharged from medical observation.

Twelve imported cases were reported on the mainland Tuesday. Among them, five were reported in Guangdong Province, three in Beijing, three in Shanghai, and one in Sichuan Province.

Also Read: US Begins First Human Trial Of Coronavirus Vaccine

Until midnight, 155 imported cases had been reported, said the commission.

As many as 167 confirmed cases including four deaths were reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), 13 confirmed cases in the Macao SAR, and 77 in Taiwan including one death. A total of 92 patients in Hong Kong, 10 in Macao and 22 in Taiwan were discharged from hospital after recovery on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the number of deaths due to the new coronavirus in the US has reached 105, with the outbreak spreading to all 50 states, even as President Donald Trump mounted a warlike effort to contain the situation, including an economic stimulus package of USD1 trillion.

The first fatality from COVID-19 was reported from the Washington state on February 26. Less than a month later, the toll has crossed 100. As of March 17, the figure stood at 105 and the number of confirmed infections crossed 6,500.

New York in the East Coast and Washington in the West are the two states that took major hits due to the coronavirus.

The World Health Organization has declared COVID-19 a pandemic. President Donald Trump has said that the crisis in the US might continue till July and August.

According to The Washington Post, most of the deaths have occurred in people over 70 and those with underlying conditions.

"Public health experts believe the initial and ongoing testing problems mean that unknown numbers of cases have gone undetected, and they say the death toll will only continue to rise," Politico reported.

President Trump has urged people to avoid gatherings of more than 10 persons. He asked them to stay indoors and work from home as much as possible. Schools, offices, bars, restaurants and many stores remain closed across the United States.

Also Read: Iran Produces Drug To Heal Lung Lesion Of COVID-19 Patients

In Italy, Europe's worst coronavirus-hit country and the world's second after China, on Tuesday reported a further 345 deaths in the past 24 hours.

This was the third day running that it reported over 300 deaths - after 368 on Sunday, and 349 on Monday.

While the country's toll has gone upto 2,503, a point of optimism was that the infection rate had slowed down, according to the BBC.

The country now has 31,506 cases - with 2,060 people in intensive care, up from 27,980 earlier. However, this was the slowest rate of increase since the country identified the presence of the virus last month.

(With IANS & PTI Inputs)