Coronavirus deaths climb as China corrals sick in quarantine facilities

BEIJING — China pushed ahead Sunday with emergency measures to isolate coronavirus patients in specialized facilities at the disease-ravaged epicenter, Wuhan, as the number of patient deaths surged past the 774 killed by the SARS outbreak that straddled 2002 and 2003.

On Monday morning local time, The country’s National Health Commission reported that more than 90 people died Saturday in the two-month epidemic — the highest daily toll to date — as worldwide coronavirus fatalities reached more than 900. Cases have been heavily concentrated in Wuhan and surrounding areas of Hubei province, which has been locked down for two weeks in an attempt to contain the virus.

As infections overwhelm the afflicted province, the rest of China might be seeing the effects of strict quarantine measures, Chinese health officials said Sunday. In all parts of China outside Hubei, the daily number of new infections dropped from nearly 900 on Feb. 3 to 509 on Saturday, the officials said.

World Health Organization officials also said they had seen the number of new cases taper in recent days. “That’s good news and may reflect the impact of the control measures put in place,” Michael Ryan, head of the WHO’s health emergencies program, told reporters Saturday. But he added that many patients have not yet been tested and that it remains far too early to make predictions about the number of infections.

An international team of experts led by the WHO departed for China early Monday morning to investigate the outbreak, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

Medical experts say available data show that the disease is much more contagious than severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, but the probability of death for those infected is much lower.

The Chinese Ambassador to the United States pushed back Sunday on the suggestion by Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., that the coronavirus may have come from China’s biological weapons program. Appearing on CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday, Ambassador Cui Tiankai acknowledged that much about the virus remains unknown, but he said spreading unsubstantiated theories could cause panic and amplify racial discrimination.

“It’s very harmful, it’s very dangerous, to stir up suspicion, rumors and spread them among the people,” Cui said. He said other people have suggested that the virus came from a military lab in the United States. “How can we believe all these crazy things?” he asked.

Reports of cases around the world continue to tick up. The number of confirmed infections onboard the cruise liner Diamond Princess, which has been anchored and quarantined off the coast of Japan, rose Sunday to 70.