(TibetanReview.net, Feb10’20) – Chinese health authorities have said Feb 10 that they had received reports of 3,062 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 97 deaths from it on Feb 9 from across the country, as against 2,656 and 89 respectively reported the day before. Also reported on Feb 9 were 4008 new suspected cases, said China’s official Xinhua news agency Feb 10.
The latest reports took the total number of confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland to 40,171 and the deaths to 908 as of Feb 9.
A total of 6,484 patients were in severe condition while the total number of suspected cases had reached 23,589, the report said.
China said it had allocated a total of 71.85 billion yuan ($10.28 billion) as of Feb 8 afternoon to fight the virus.
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Over the weekend, an American hospitalised in the central city of Wuhan became the first confirmed non-Chinese victim of the disease while a Japanese man who also died there was another suspected victim, reported Reuters Feb 10. They are the only know foreign deaths in China.
The virus had now spread to at least 27 countries and territories, infecting more than 330 people outside China mainland, the report said, citing official reports. Two deaths have been reported outside mainland China: one each in Hong Kong and the Philippines.
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On Feb 8, official in the Chinese city of Shanghai confirmed that the Wuhan coronavirus could now spread via aerosol transmission, meaning it could drift through the air for an extended period of time and cause infection if breathed in, reported newshub.co.nz Feb 10.
“Aerosol transmission refers to the mixing of the virus with droplets in the air to form aerosols which causes infection after inhalation,” China’s official China Daily newspaper quoted Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau deputy head Zeng Qun as saying.
The report said the discovery of the disease being airborne meant that coronavirus now had three modes of transmission: Direct transmission when a person breathes the air close to an infected person who has coughed or sneezed; Contact transmission when a person touches a contaminated surface then infects themselves by touching their mouth, eyes or nose; and by inhaling drifting air contaminated with the virus.
The disease causes fever, coughing and breathing difficulty. In severe cases it can cause pneumonia and organ failure.
