Coronavirus: death toll rises to over 1,000 in China

The death toll in China from the new coronavirus rose to 1,011 on Tuesday after the announcement of 103 new deaths in Hubei province, whose capital is Wuhan, home of the epidemic. It also contaminated more than 42,200 people.

This figure is higher than the number of people who died of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, atypical pneumonia) – about 650 – in the Chinese mainland and in Hong Kong in 2002-2003, 774 worldwide. On Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping, his face covered in a protective mask, went to a residential area of ​​Beijing to attend efforts to fight contagion and visit a hospital.

In a long report broadcast on the evening news, he spoke about the situation in Wuhan, as well as a large part of his province, Hubei, where the greatest number of victims are recorded. The epidemic ‘remains very serious’, he recognized, calling for taking ‘stronger and decisive measures to resolutely curb the impetus of contagion’.

His government has already taken drastic measures by prohibiting some 56 million Hubei residents from leaving the province. But the government has also been criticized for being slow to respond to the epidemic and even berating whistleblowers for ‘spreading rumors’. The death of one of them, a 34-year-old doctor, on Friday resulted in unusual calls for freedom of expression.

As a result, two senior Hubei officials have been sacked, state television said on Tuesday. This decision seems to appease public opinion, which demanded heads after the death of Li Wenliang. This ophthalmologist is now a national hero in the face of local officials accused of trying to stifle his revelations.

Thirty countries

Outside mainland China, the virus has also killed two people, one in the Philippines and one in Hong Kong. More than 320 cases of contamination have been confirmed in around thirty countries and territories.

The spread of the virus outside of China could increase with the transmission of the disease by people who have never traveled to that country, warned the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Sunday. “We may only see the tip of the iceberg,” warned Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, while a WHO “international expert mission” arrived in China on Monday.

/ ATS

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