China COVID-19 toll reaches 2,835; 50 countries affected

Beijing: The death toll due to the deadly coronavirus in mainland China increased to 2,835 on Saturday, with overall 79,251 cases, according to health authorities.

The National Health Commission said that it received reports of 427 new cases and 47 deaths on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported. Among the deaths, 45 were in Hubei province and one each in Beijing and Henan.

The Commission added that 1,418 people were still suspected of being infected with the virus, while a total of 39,002 people had been discharged from hospital after recovery.

On Saturday, the first official economic data confirmed fears that the Chinese economy has been badly hit by the coronavirus, with a February plunge in manufacturing activity, reports the South China Morning Post.

The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slowed to 35.7, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said, having slipped to 50.0 in January when the full impact of the coronavirus was not yet evident.

A PMI reading of 50 marks the point between expansion and contraction. Globally, more than 83,650 people in over 50 countries have been infected. As of Saturday morning, the number of confirmed cases outside China were reported in South Korea (2,931), Japan (940, including 705 on Diamond Princess), Italy (888), Iran (388), Singapore (98), Hong Kong (94), the US (60), France (57), Germany (53), Kuwait (45), Spain (41), Thailand (41), Taiwan (39), Bahrain (36), Malaysia (25), Australia (24), the UK (20), the UAE (19), Vietnam (16), Canada (14), Macau (eight), Iraq (eight), Sweden (seven), Oman (six), Switzerland (five), Russia (five), Croatia (five), Israel (four), Greece (four), Philippines (three), India (three), Lebanon (three), Romania (three), Mexico (two), the Netherlands (two), Pakistan (two), Austria (two), Georgia (two), Finland (two), and one each in Nigeria, Norway, Lithuania, Belarus, Brazil, Belgium, Iceland, Azerbaijan, Denmark, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Cambodia and North Macedonia, according to figures issued by the South China Morning Post.

The deaths outside China were recorded in Iran (34), Italy (21), South Korea (16), Japan (11), Hong Kong (two), France (one), Taiwan (one) and the Philippines (one).

The latest developments came as the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday upgraded the global risk of the outbreak to its highest level, the BBC reported. But the UN body said there was still a chance of containing the virus if its chain of transmission was broken.

WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also stressed that fear and misinformation were the biggest challenges to overcome. (IANS)

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