A worker walking among beds in a convention center that has been converted into a temporary hospital in Wuhan, China, on Tuesday.Credit…Chinatopix, via Associated Press
As deaths approach 500, no sign of a slowdown in China.
The death toll from the monthlong coronavirus outbreak has continued to climb in China, rising to 490. New cases have surged by double-digit percentages in the past 11 days, with no sign of a slowdown.
More people have now died in this epidemic than in the severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, outbreak of 2002-3 in mainland China. During that outbreak, 349 people died in the mainland.
The new figures from China’s Health Commission on Wednesday showed that 65 people died on Tuesday and that 3,887 more people had been infected. So far, 24,324 people are known to have been infected.
Health experts say the death toll is likely to rise because of the large number of infections. The mortality rate of the coronavirus, about 2 percent so far, appears to be far lower than SARS, which has a mortality rate of about 10 percent.
Coronavirus Map: Tracking the Spread of the Outbreak
The virus has sickened more than 24,400 people in China and 24 other countries.
Experts warn they still lack enough data to say definitively how lethal the new is. Many residents in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak and the capital of Hubei Province, believe the death toll is much higher than the official tally because people with flulike symptoms are being turned away by overstretched hospitals. The health care system in Wuhan is so overwhelmed that many cases have not been diagnosed because of a shortage of testing kits.
Still, the number of people in China recovering from the virus is rising, suggesting that the treatment plan may be working. On Tuesday, 262 people left hospitals nationwide. The number of suspected cases has dropped for two days in a row. Officials said they were tracking 3,971 suspected cases, compared with 5,173 cases the day before.
Coronavirus
On Tuesday, health officials released details of the deaths so far, saying that two-thirds of them were men. More than 80 percent were over 60 years old, and they typically had pre-existing health conditions such as cardiovascular diseases or diabetes.
Hubei Province has been hardest hit by the virus, and is home to the bulk of deaths (479) and infections (16,678). Wuhan in particular has borne the brunt of the deaths and infections.
The government said it has put 252,154 people under surveillance.
Source: The New York Times