NE NEWS SERVICE
BEIJING, FEB 14
China’s official death toll from the new coronavirus spiked dramatically on Thursday after authorities changed their counting methods, fuelling concern the epidemic is far worse than being reported. The death toll in China reached 1,367, up 254 from the previous day. The number of confirmed cases jumped 15,152 to 59,804. The unusually large increases were due to the change in Hubei’s approach. The total now includes more than 13,000 cases of “clinical diagnosis” in Hubei, which appears to include those based on a doctors’ analysis combined with lung imaging, as opposed to waiting for laboratory test results.
Japan reported its first death of an infected person –the third fatality outside mainland China after the Philippines and Hong Kong.
Under criticism at home over the handling of the crisis, China’s Communist Party sacked two top ranking officials in Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak. The developments came hours after President Xi Jinping claimed “positive results” from efforts to contain an epidemic that has now officially killed 1,367 people and infected nearly 60,000.
In Hubei and its capital Wuhan, where tens of millions of people are trapped as part of an unprecedented quarantine effort, 242 new deaths were reported on Thursday. Another 14,840 people were confirmed to be infected in Hubei alone, with the new cases and deaths by far the biggest oneday increases since the crisis began.
Outside Hubei, there were 12 more deaths but the number of new cases fell for a ninth day in a row, with 312 extra patients. Hubei authorities said the increases were because they had broadened their definition for infection to include people “clinically diagnosed” via lung imaging. Up until now, they had solely confirmed cases with a more sophisticated laboratory test. Health officials said they looked into past suspected cases and revised their diagnoses, suggesting older cases were also included in Thursday’s numbers.
The World Health Organization said it is normal for case definitions to “adapt to improved understanding” of a newly emerging infectious disease.
China has been praised by the WHO for its transparent handling of the outbreak, in contrast to the way it concealed the extent of the deadly SARS epidemic in 2002-2003. But it has faced continued scepticism among the global public. Criticism intensified after the death of a doctor who had tried to raise the alarm about the outbreak in December, but was silenced by authorities.
First death in Japan, 2 taxi drivers test positive
TOKYO: A woman in her 80s has become the first person with the new coronavirus to die in Japan, the country’s health minister said Thursday, cautioning it was not clear if the virus caused her death.
“The relationship between the new coronavirus and the death of the person is still unclear,” Katsunobu Kato said at a latenight briefing. “This is the first death of a person who tested positive.”
Two taxi drivers, one of them in the capital Tokyo, have also tested positive, raising the possibility that it could be passed on through their passengers. Agencies
