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China virus death toll nears 1,500 but new cases fall
BEIJING, Feb 14, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – The death toll from China’s coronavirus
epidemic rose to 1,483 on Friday but the number of new infections in hard-hit
Hubei province fell after a change in case definitions caused a massive
increase the previous day.
The central province’s health commission reported 116 more deaths and 4,823
new cases, the majority involving “clinically diagnosed” patients.
The province, the epicentre of the outbreak, had 242 more deaths and over
14,800 new cases on Thursday.
More than 64,600 people have now been infected in the country.
Health officials in Hubei said they started to count clinically diagnosed
cases to ensure that patients get treated as early as possible instead of
having to wait for laboratory tests to confirm they have the COVID-19
disease.
But the change raised concerns that the crisis may be more serious than
Chinese authorities have reported.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0857 hrs