China’s health authorities on Tuesday reported 1,886 new coronavirus cases and 98 deaths on the mainland, taking the totals to 72,436 and 1,868 respectively, as of midnight on Monday.
Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak, reported 1,807 new cases - 1,600 of them in the provincial capital Wuhan - and 93 deaths.
China’s daily new confirmed cases of Covid-19 - the official name of the disease caused by the new coronavirus - outside Hubei have now dropped for each of the past 14 consecutive days, according to the National Health Commission, which also reported that 1,701 patients had recovered, as of Monday.
Business returns to normal but tourism sector hit
Most of China’s 20,000 state-owned enterprises and their subsidiaries have restarted production, according to the country’s administrative body overseeing the sector.
The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration, which reports directly to China’s State Council, said 80 per cent had resumed operations, with some of the remainder unable to restart because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The resumption rate was higher - at more than 95 per cent - for some industries, including petrol, telecommunications and transport.
The tourism sector continues to feel the effects of the outbreak. Between January 20 and February 13, three airline companies refunded 13 million tickets and cancelled 78,000 flights. The load factor and aircraft utilisation rate per day fell by almost half.
China National Travel Service Group Corporation has closed 30 tourist sites, 19 hotels and 113 tourist retail shops. All ferry services have been suspended. Overseas Chinese Town Enterprises closed 74 tourist sites, seven theme parks. A total of 10 travel agencies have also suspended operations.
Wuhan hospital director dies
A 50-year-old neurosurgeon and director of a hospital in Wuhan died from Covid-19 on Tuesday morning.
State broadcaster CCTV and Communist Party newspaper People’s Daily reported that Liu Zhiming, director of the Wuchang Hospital, was the first hospital director to die in the outbreak.
The National Health Commission said on Friday that 1,716 medical workers - 1,502 from Hubei province and 1,102 from Wuhan - had been infected with the virus and that six medical workers had died, as of last Tuesday.
A male nurse named Liu Fan died from Covid-19 on Friday evening, also at Wuchang Hospital.
Kazakh villagers told to stay home
Ili, an autonomous prefecture for Kazakh people in Xinjiang, has told citizens to stay home in a move to contain the novel coronavirus outbreak. The government also promised to take care of citizens' basic needs in an open letter published online on Monday.
“For your safety and health, please rest at home and don't go out. Health care workers as well as production and operation staff of key enterprises will work in closed operations,” the letter said. “Please rest assured the government will increase the procurement and distribution of daily necessities and medical supplies to ensure that normal life is not affected.”
Staff from village neighbourhood committees will purchase necessities such as vegetables, grains and coal and deliver them to people’s doorsteps. Water, electricity, gas and communication bills will also be paid for by the staff, the letter said.
For common illnesses, the village neighbourhood committee said its staff would go to hospital and get the diagnosis and treatment on behalf of citizens. Staff will also pick up prescribed medicines for chronic conditions.
Stranded Taiwanese return home
The first batch of Taiwanese evacuees from the mainland returned to their homes on Tuesday after being isolated in quarantine for 14 days at three quarantine centres on the island.
Except for a businessman who tested positive for coronavirus and was immediately sent to an isolated hospital ward after arriving in Taiwan on February 3, the rest were confirmed to be not infected after their two-week quarantine, according to health minister Chen Shih-chung.
The group was the first batch of Taiwanese citizens repatriated to the island by mainland Chinese authorities. There are about 700 more Taiwanese still stranded in Hubei province, but their evacuation has been stalled by a dispute between Taipei and Beijing over how they should be repatriated.
Taipei has complained about the first batch of repatriations, in which one person sent back by the mainland was found to have been infected.
Taipei’s request to send a plane and medical personnel to pick up the rest of the stranded citizens in several groups at a 14-day interval has been sternly rejected by the mainland, on the grounds that it would be not only time consuming but would jeopardise the safety of those stranded.
Hubei cases near 60,000 mark
The latest figures from Hubei bring the total number of cases in the province to 59,989 and the number of deaths to 1,789. A day earlier, the province had announced 1,933 new cases and 100 deaths.
Of the Hubei totals for Monday, 1,600 new cases and 72 deaths were in the provincial capital of Wuhan, the Hubei health commission said.
Meanwhile, China’s annual parliamentary meeting scheduled for early March has been postponed because of the outbreak.
State news agency Xinhua reported that the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) would discuss the delay later this month - effectively indicating that it would be put back.