Coronavirus claims record 242 new lives in single day in China

China’s Hubei province, the epicentre of the deadly coronavirus outbreak, witnessed a record 242 new fatalities and 15,000 fresh cases in a single day, announced local health officials on Thursday. This is so far the fastest rise in the daily count since the virus outbreak was first identified in December.

Hubei, whose provincial capital is Wuhan, has reported 14,840 new coronavirus cases, including 13,332 clinically diagnosed cases, on Wednesday, said the local Health Commission. The province reported 242 new deaths on Wednesday from the infection on the same day, taking the total death toll to 1,310 so far, reports said.

With this, the total confirmed cases in the province has jumped to 48,206, raising concerns over the faster pace with which the virus is spreading in the province. The Hubei health commission said the adjustment in the calculation has been made to give those who have been clinically diagnosed with the timely standard treatment of confirmed cases, the report said.

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China is yet to release the nationwide figures on Thursday. Until Tuesday, the virus outbreak has claimed 1,115 lives with 97 new fatalities reported mostly in the worst-affected Hubei province while the confirmed cases of infection jumped to 44,763, the state-run CGTN TV reported.

The number of confirmed cases abroad rose to 440 with one death so far in the Philippines. Japan reported the highest number of 203 cases with a majority of them from a cruise ship in which two Indian crew on board tested positive for the coronavirus.

A 15-member team of specialists of the World Health Organisation, (WHO) is currently in China assisting the local health officials in containing the virus.

(With inputs from agencies)

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