China sees fall in coronavirus deaths, WHO urges caution

NEW DAILY INFECTIONS FALL BELOW 2,000 FOR FIRST TIME SINCE JANUARY 30

China reported yesterday its fewest new coronavirus infections since January and its lowest daily death toll for a week, but the World Health Organisation said data suggesting the epidemic had slowed should still be viewed with caution.

The head of a leading hospital in China’s central city of Wuhan, epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, died of the disease yesterday, becoming one of the most prominent victims since the disease first appeared at the end of last year.

Chinese officials reported 1,886 new cases — the first time the daily figure has fallen below 2,000 since January 30 — bringing the mainland China total to 72,436. A figure of 98 new deaths marked the first time the daily toll in China had fallen below 100 since February 11, bringing the total to 1,868.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Chinese data “appears to show a decline in new cases” but any apparent trend “must be interpreted very cautiously”.

Outside China, there have been 827 cases of the disease, known as COVID-19, and five deaths, according to a Reuters count based on official statements. More than half of those cases have been on a cruise ship quarantined off Japan.

Aggressive steps

China says figures showing a slowdown in new cases in recent days show that aggressive steps it has taken to curb travel and commerce are slowing the spread of the disease beyond central Hubei province and its capital, Wuhan.

But Tom Wingfield, a senior lecturer and physician at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, said: “It is too early to be certain whether this represents a sustained reduction in COVID-19 transmission and that the epidemic has peaked.” The numbers appeared encouraging, said Mark Woolhouse, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at Britain’s University of Edinburgh.

“Though it is unrealistic to reduce the transmission rate to zero it may have been reduced to a level where the epidemic is brought under control,” Woolhouse said.

— Reuters