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RISING TOLL AND YOUNGEST PATIENT

Coronavirus infections in mainland China rose sharply again today to reach more than 31,000 confirmed cases, more than 4,800 of which were critical, authorities said. China also has reported more than 630 coronavirus deaths, including one in Hong Kong, and one person has died in the Philippines.

China’s National Health Commission said the number of infected patients who were “discharged and cured” stood at 1,153.

A baby born last Saturday in Wuhan and confirmed positive just 36 hours after birth became the youngest known person infected with the virus.

Japan said today that 41 new cases of the virus have been found on a cruise ship that’s been quarantined in Yokohama harbor. That brings the total cases on the ship to 61.

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A new, rapidly constructed 1,500-bed hospital specially built to deal with the outbreak was completed in Wuhan, days after a 1,000-bed hospital with prefabricated wards and isolation rooms began taking patients. Wuhan is also operating an additional 132 quarantine sites with more than 12,500 beds, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

In Hong Kong, hospital workers demanding a shutdown of the territory’s border with mainland China were on strike for a fourth day.

CLINICAL DRUG TRIALS APPROVED

Xinhua said clinical trials for the antiviral drug remdesivir have been approved and that the first group of patients was expected to start taking it Thursday. It is made by U.S. biotech company Gilead Sciences.

VINCENT YU / ASSOCIATED PRESS A man wearing a protective face mask carries tissues bought Thursday at a pharmacy in Hong Kong, where hospital workers demanding a shutdown of the territory’s border with mainland China were on strike for a fourth day.