Coronavirus: latest figures show positive trend expanding

By Cao Yin and Wang Xiaoyu | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2020-03-14 11:24

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Volunteers help elderly residents fill bottles with disinfectant in the Qijiahuozi residential community in the Chaoyang district of Beijing on March 13, 2020. [Photo by Feng Yongbin/chinadaily.com.cn]

Domestic confirmed and suspected infections of the novel coronavirus nationwide have fallen in the past week, and the recovery rate has risen during the same period, Mi Feng, spokesman for the National Health Commission, said on Saturday.

In Wuhan, Hubei province, the rate of patients cured and discharged from hospitals has reached 72.9 percent. In other regions of Hubei, the recovery rate stands at 92.7 percent and across the rest of the country, the rate is 97.3 percent, according to Mi.

The number of indigenous confirmed infections under treatment on the Chinese mainland dropped to 12,094, including 3,610 in severe condition, and the number of suspected cases fell to 115 as of Friday, according to commission data released on Saturday morning.

"Following strenuous efforts, the positive trend of China's epidemic situation has taken hold and is expanding," Mi said, adding that most counties in the country are deemed at low risk of the virus' spread.

According to the commission, the Chinese mainland added 11 new confirmed cases on Friday, including four indigenous cases registered in Wuhan and seven imported cases, with four in Shanghai, two in Gansu province and one in Beijing.

That has brought the accumulated number of infections to 80,824 nationwide as of Friday, including 95 imported cases.

The commission also reported 13 new deaths on Friday - all in Hubei - bringing the total death toll to 3,189.

On Friday, 1,430 patients were released from the hospital, and the number of patients in severe condition had fallen by 410, the commission said.

A total of 678,935 close contacts had been traced as of Friday, with 10,879 of them remaining under medical observation, it said.

Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan have so far reported a total of 197 confirmed cases, with four deaths in Hong Kong and one death in Taiwan, it added.

In Hubei, the cumulative number of confirmed cases by Friday rose to 67,790, with about 50,000 of them reported in Wuhan. The total fatalities were at 3,075.