Coronavirus: China reports 97 new deaths, 2,015 new cases confirmed

China’s health authority reported 97 new deaths attributable to the Covid-19 outbreak and 2,015 newly-confirmed cases as of Tuesday. This brings the national totals to 1,113 and 44,653, respectively.

As of yesterday, 744 recovered patients have been discharged, while the total number of recovery cases stands at 4,740, reports South China Morning Post. 

Health authorities in China’s Hubei province - epicentre of the Covid-19 epidemic - reported 94 new deaths attributable to the contagion, and 1,638 newly confirmed cases as of Tuesday. This brings the totals announced by the province’s health commission to 1,068 and 33,366, respectively.

Officials in Hubei had reported 103 fatalities and 2,097 newly confirmed cases a day earlier.

Some 1,104 of the new cases announced were confirmed in Hubei’s capital of Wuhan, where the virus is believed to have originated at a seafood and meat market.

Michael Ryan, the World Health Organisation’s head of emergency programmes, said on Tuesday in Geneva that Covid-19 had the potential to spread faster than either the Ebola or Sars viruses. Earlier this week, Covid-19 exceeded the Sars outbreak of 2002-03 in terms of deaths attributed to it.

Transmission methods have been shown to include human-to-human contact, and the incubation period is believed to be up to 14 days.

In recent days, epidemiologists have said that the contagion may also spread through “aerosol transmission” - when tiny particles or droplets of the virus suspended in the air are inhaled.

Others indicated that transmissions are possible from patients who show mild or no symptoms.

WHO officials said on Tuesday that the agency had also activated a UN crisis management team to better assess and mitigate the outbreak’s economic implications.