Coronavirus infections and deaths spike

As of Thursday, the number of people infected has risen to 60,363 while 1,370 have died and 6,285 have recovered. China’s Hubei province announced 242 new deaths, the highest recorded in any 24-hour period since the outbreak began and twice as many as the previous day. New cases in the province were reported to have jumped by 14,840, this is due to a methodology change in the way testing is conducted for the virus.

A World Health Organization (WHO) spokesman said “the new case definition widens the net, and includes not only lab-confirmed cases but also clinically diagnosed cases based on symptoms and exposure,” Tarik Jasarevic told Reuters.

The new method is only being used in Hubei, and Jasarevic said the latest numbers from the province included retrospectively diagnosed cases.

Hubei had previously only allowed infections to be confirmed by RNA tests, which can take days. RNA, or ribonucleic acid, carries genetic information allowing identification of viruses. The Hubei health commission said they began using computerised tomography (CT) scans, which give images of the lungs, to identify and isolate cases faster.

The current number of lab confirmed cases, the method used prior to the change, shows the number of infected at 47,054, a rise of approximately 1,800 since the previous day. Health experts say that while the total cases may have risen due to the change in the method of identification, the downward trend of previous days is likely to continue within the areas already infected.

The individual country figures are as follows;

China – 59,826

Japan – 251

Singapore – 58

Hong Kong – 53

Thailand – 33

S. Korea – 28

Malaysia – 19

Taiwan – 18

Germany – 16

Vietnam – 16

USA – 15

Australia – 15

France – 11

Macao – 10

UK – 9

UAE – 8

Canada – 7

India – 5

Philippines – 3

Italy – 3

Russia – 2

Spain – 2

Finland – 1

Cambodia – 1

Belgium – 1

Sweden – 1

Nepal – 1

Sri Lanka – 1

SOURCES (WHO, REUTERS, CNN, WORLDMETERS)