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China
reports
spike in
virus
cases
with new
way of
counting
By
YANAN
WANG
apnews.com
BEIJING
- China
on
Thursday
reported
a sharp
spike in
deaths
and
infections
from a
new
virus
after
the
hardest-hit
province
of Hubei
applied
a new
classification
system
that
broadens
the
scope of
diagnoses
for the
outbreak,
which
has
spread
to more
than 20
countries.
Japan
reported
its
first
death, a
woman in
her 80s
who had
been
hospitalized
since
early
February.
She is
the
third
confirmed
fatality
outside
of
mainland
China,
after
deaths
in the
Philippines
and Hong
Kong.
The
new
diagnostic
approach
came on
the same
day that
Hubei
and its
stricken
capital,
Wuhan,
replaced
their
top
officials
in an
apparent
response
to
public
criticism
of how
authorities
have
handled
the
epidemic.
The
death
toll in
China
reached
1,367,
up 254
from the
previous
day. The
number
of
confirmed
cases
jumped
15,152
to
59,804.
The
unusually
large
increases
were due
to the
change
in
Hubei’s
approach.
The
total
now
includes
more
than
13,000
cases of
“clinical
diagnosis”
in
Hubei,
which
appears
to
include
those
based on
a
doctors’
analysis
combined
with
lung
imaging,
as
opposed
to
waiting
for
laboratory
test
results.
In
breaking
down the
large
number
of new
cases in
China,
National
Health
Commission
spokesman
Mi Feng
said
Hubei
had
adopted
a
revised
diagnosis
and
treatment
plan
aimed at
accelerating
the
identification
and
treatment
of
patients.
That
adds a
“clinical
diagnosis
case”
classification
to
identify
suspected
cases
who
appear
to have
pneumonia
so that
patients
can be
accepted
as soon
as
possible
and
treated
as
confirmed
cases,
Mi said,
adding
that
should
“reduce
severe
illness
and
mortality.”
One
expert
said the
changed
case
definition
in Hubei
likely
speaks
to the
crush of
patients
the
health
system
is
experiencing
and the
backlog
of
untested
samples.
“Clearly
in
Wuhan,
the
health
system
is under
extreme
pressure
and so
the
first
priority
has to
be the
patient,”
said
Mark
Woolhouse,
a
professor
of
infectious
disease
epidemiology
at the
University
of
Edinburgh.
He
said it
wasn’t
unprecedented
for case
definitions
to rely
on
doctors’
diagnoses
rather
than
wait for
laboratory
confirmation,
and that
these
kinds of
changes
usually
happen
when
there
are
simply
too many
patients
to
process
in a
fast-moving
outbreak.
“I’m
not
surprised
that
this has
happened
given
the way
the
outbreak
has been
going in
China,”
Woolhouse
said.
“You
have to
be
pragmatic
and take
the
concerns
of the
patient
first
and
treat
them as
if they
already
have the
disease,
even in
the
absence
of lab
confirmation.”
China
also
appointed
new
high-level
officials
in Hubei
and
Wuhan.
Former
Shanghai
Mayor
Ying
Yong
succeeded
Jiang
Chaoliang
as the
ruling
Communist
Party
chief in
the
beleaguered
province,
the
Xinhua
state
news
agency
reported,
while
Wang
Zhonglin
took
over
from Ma
Guoqiang
as the
party
secretary
in
Wuhan.
The
appointments
follow
the
sacking
earlier
this
week of
two
leaders
of the
provincial
health
commission.
State
media
also
reported
that a
slew of
others
were
expelled
from the
party
for
transgressions
related
to the
epidemic.
The
public
has
widely
criticized
local
officials
for
failing
to
respond
quickly
and
decisively
to the
new
virus.
Authorities
initially
assured
people
that
there
was
little
to no
risk of
human-to-human
transmission,
a
statement
that was
later
retracted.
Wuhan
residents
said
hospitals
were
overcrowded
and
lacked
sufficient
medical
supplies.
Doctors
who
tried to
share
information
early on
were
reprimanded
by
police
for
“spreading
rumors.”
Many
countries
have
implemented
travel
restrictions
on
recent
visitors
to
China,
which
has more
than 99%
of the
world’s
reported
infections.
In
an
unprecedented
measure
to
contain
the
disease,
recently
named
COVID-19,
the
Chinese
government
has
placed
the
hardest-hit
cities —
home to
more
than 60
million
— under
lockdown.
One
district
in
Shiyan,
a city
in
Hubei,
has
implemented
“wartime
measures,”
barring
residents
from
leaving
even
their
apartment
compounds
for two
weeks.
According
to a
local
government
notice,
neighborhood
committees
will
distribute
basic
necessities
at a
fixed
time and
at fixed
prices,
as well
as help
residents
purchase
any
medicine
they
might
urgently
need.
Xu
Min, a
resident
of
Shiyan’s
Zhangwan
district,
said her
neighborhood
entrance
was
being
guarded
by
community
workers
and
security
staff.
“It
doesn’t
have too
much of
an
impact
on our
life,
except
that
we’re
not
allowed
to go
out,” Xu
said.
World
Health
Organization
spokesman
Tarik
Jasarevic
said the
agency
is
seeking
more
clarity
from
China on
the
updates
to its
case
definition
and
reporting
protocol.
“It
is our
current
understanding
that the
new case
definition
widens
the net,
and
includes
not only
lab-confirmed
cases
but also
clinically
diagnosed
cases
based on
symptoms
and
exposure,”
Jasarevic
said in
an email
to The
Associated
Press.
“The
jump in
cases
today
reflects
the
broader
definition,”
he said.
An
advance
team of
WHO
experts
has been
in China
since
Monday.
The team
is here
to
“discuss
specific
arrangements
for the
China-WHO
joint
mission
with the
Chinese
side,”
Chinese
foreign
ministry
spokesman
Geng
Shuang
said at
a daily
online
briefing.
“The
purpose
of the
joint
mission
is that
experts
of both
sides
can have
in-depth
communication
on the
situation
and
efforts
of
prevention
and
control,
and come
up with
advice
for
China
and
other
affected
countries,”
Geng
said.
In
Vietnam,
official
media
reported
that a
village
of
10,000
northwest
of the
capital,
Hanoi,
was put
in
lockdown
due to a
cluster
of cases
there.
The
online
newspaper
VN
Express
cited a
senior
official
of Vinh
Phuc
province
as
reporting
an
increase
in cases
in Son
Loi.
Vietnam
has
confirmed
16
cases,
most of
them in
the
province.
Japan’s
Health
Ministry
announced
Thursday
that 44
more
people
on a
cruise
ship
quarantined
in the
port of
Yokohama,
near
Tokyo,
have
tested
positive
for
COVID-19.
The ship
has 218
infections
among
its
3,700
passengers
and
crew.
Health
Minister
Katsunobu
Kato
told
reporters
five of
the
patients
who were
already
sent to
hospitals
for
isolation
and
treatment
have
severe
symptoms
and are
on
artificial
respirators
or under
intensive
care.
Another
cruise
ship,
the
Westerdam,
finally
docked
Thursday
in
Cambodia
after
being
turned
away by
several
Asian
and
Pacific
governments.
No cases
of the
viral
illness
have
been
confirmed
among
its
1,455
passengers
and 802
crew
members,
according
to
operator
Holland
America
Line.
Thailand
refused
to allow
the
Westerdam
to dock
this
week
after it
had
already
been
turned
away by
the
Philippines,
Taiwan,
Japan
and Guam
over
virus
concerns.
The
Westerdam
began
its
cruise
in
Singapore
last
month
and its
last
stop
before
it was
refused
further
landings
was in
Hong
Kong,
where 51
cases of
the
viral
disease
have
been
confirmed.
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