Number of coronavirus cases spikes in China as diagnoses expand

On Thursday morning, 242 deaths along with 14,840 cases were announced by Hubei authorities. This is the largest jump the virus has caused in a single day with close to ten times as many cases recorded as the day before.

The spike was explained by the government as being caused by changes in the diagnosis of the virus. They noted that the total number of cases now involves “clinically diagnosed cases.” These are cases where the patients show coronavirus (Covid-19) symptoms but have not yet been tested for the virus or died before being tested.

The number of patients that have been hospitalized in Hubei is now approximately 34,000, with around 1,400 of those patients in critical condition. It is reported that 3,441 patients have made a full recovery and been released from the hospital.

The virus has now infected over 60,000 people globally. Most of the cases have been reported in China—about 59,800 of them.

China’s National Health Commission has now reported the death toll in China at 1,367. There have only been two reported deaths outside of the country.

According to World Health Organization (WHO) officials, expanding the definition of what can be considered a case of the virus was an essential step.

During a press conference on Wednesday, the director of WHO’s Infection Hazards Management, Dr. Sylvie said, “When the situation is evolving, you change your definition just to make sure you can monitor the disease accurately, and this is what they have done recently — change the case definition to incorporate more cases that were not in the initial case definition, but also integrate cases that are both asymptomatic or with little symptom.”

The Government of Canada has reported 7 cases so far with three in Ontario and 4 in B.C.

In the United States, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that their country “can and should be prepared for this new virus to gain a foothold.”

Health officials in the UK have also given warnings as a case was reported in London on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said, “This outbreak could still go in any direction. We have to invest in preparedness.”

Tedros also noted that the more well off countries should help countries with less advanced health care as an outbreak in those areas could “create havoc.”