Coronavirus claims 11 more lives in China; Wuhan reports single case for 2nd day

PTI, Mar 18, 2020, 9:00 AM IST

Beijing: The epicentre of the novel coronavirus outbreak Wuhan city in China reported a single confirmed case for the second consecutive day on Tuesday even as 11 people died of the deadly disease in the country, taking the toll to 3,237, health officials said on Wednesday.

Wuhan had reported a single confirmed case on Monday as China began phased withdrawal of thousands of medical personnel deployed in the hard-hit Hubei province.

For the second day on Tuesday, the city reported only one new confirmed case.

China’s National Health Commission (NHC) said 11 new deaths and 13 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection were reported in the country on Tuesday.

A total of 80,894 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 had been reported on the mainland as of Tuesday and 3,237 people died of the disease, the health officials said.

Altogether, 69,601 patients were discharged from hospital after recovery.

On Tuesday, all deaths were reported in Hubei province and its capital Wuhan, it said.

The latest report brought the total confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Hubei to 67,800.

As of Tuesday, Hubei had seen no new confirmed COVID-19 cases for 13 consecutive days in its 16 cities and prefectures outside Wuhan, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

As the novel coronavirus showed signs of abating with a fewer number of cases in Wuhan, where the virus surfaced in December last year, China on Tuesday began phased withdrawal of thousands of doctors and medical staff from the city.

China deployed over 42,000 medical workers from across the country, including from the military, in Hubei and Wuhan when the virus spread like wildfire infecting thousands of people.

China had recently dismantled 14 makeshift hospitals.

With mixed feelings of containing the dreaded COVID-19 but sad over deaths of thousands of people, the first batch of medical assistance teams started leaving Hubei as the pandemic in the hard-hit province has been subdued, official media reported.

Over 3,600 medical staffers belonging to 41 medical teams from across China have assisted 14 temporary hospitals and seven designated hospitals in Wuhan, Xinhua agency reported.

Wuhan and Hubei province continued to be under lockdown since January 23 though the government has initiated plans to resume several industries and businesses there.