The head of a hospital in China’s coronavirus-hit Wuhan city died of the epidemic amid criticism that a number of medical staff were infected due to official attempts to conceal the key findings of human-to-human transmission of the virus, as the death toll from the disease on Tuesday soared to 1,868.
Hubei province and its capital Wuhan, from where the virus originated, continued to bear the brunt as 93 more people died on Monday while five deaths were reported from Henan, Hebei and Hunan provinces.
China’s National Health Commission on Tuesday said the death toll due to the outbreak climbed to 1,868 on Monday while the total number of confirmed cases jumped to 72,436.
A top Chinese health official said the daily death toll has come down below 100 for the first time since the virus outbreak came to light in January.
The daily number of newly confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) reported across China Monday dropped to under 2,000 for the first time, Mi Feng, an official with the National Health Commission (NHC) said Tuesday.
Monday also saw the new confirmed infections of COVID-19 outside Hubei reduced to a number lower than 100 for the first time, Mi told the media..
Comparing the statistics in the peak period, Mi said the first appearance of these noteworthy decreasing numbers demonstrate that the epidemic situation is improving.
While officials claimed that the virus is stabilising, one of Wuhan’s most senior doctors has died after contracting the coronavirus.used.