COVID-19: China reports 254 deaths in 24 hours

National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China has re-reported 254 new deaths in the country in the last 24 hours due to the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), which is now called COVID-19 by World Health Organization (WHO).

It is the highest number of deaths caused by the virus in a 24-hour period.

The most number of deaths took place in Hubei province – 242. Henan province reported two, while Tianjin, Hebei province, Liaoning province, Heilongjiang province, Anhui province, Shandong province, Guangdong province, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Hainan province and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps reported one death each.

In its Daily Briefing today for yesterday, the commission also re-reported 15, 152 new cases of confirmed and 2,807 new suspected COVID-19 cases. There were 13,332 clinical cases in Hubei.

The commission said the serious cases decreased by 174, and 1,171 patients were released from hospitals after they were cured. The commission further said 29,429 people who came in close contact with infected people were freed from medical observation.

The total number of confirmed cases that had been received by the commission as of 24:00 on February 12 since the start of the outbreak are 59,804. As of the date and time, the commission had received reports of 1,367 deaths in 31 provincial-level regions on mainland China and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

China also reports that 5,911 patients in total have been cured and discharged from hospital. However, 52,526 confirmed cases, including 8.030 in serious condition, and 13,435 suspected cases still remain.

The commission also reports that to date 471,531 people have been identified as having had close contact with infected people and that 181,386 have been put under medical observation.

Read the brief on the commission’s website, here, for more details.

WHO recently announced the new official name of the virus (COVID-19), with the organization’s director-general, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, saying, “Under agreed guidelines between WHO, the @OIEAnimalHealth & @FAO, we had to find a name that did not refer to a geographical location, an animal, an individual or group of people, and which is also pronounceable and related to the disease,” according to an article by Forbes contributor Victoria Forster.

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