14,840 New COVID-19 Cases Confirmed Overnight In Hubei, Raising Questions About Accuracy Of Reporting
It wasn't a sudden spike of cases that led to the increase but rather a change in the diagnostic criteria being used. The eye-popping numbers highlight how hard it has been for Chinese officials to get accurate counts in the outbreak, especially considering more than 80% of the confirmed cases have been mild. Meanwhile, two Communist Party leaders were ousted following the announcement of the new numbers.
The New York Times:
Coronavirus Cases Seemed To Be Leveling Off. Not Anymore.
The news seemed to be positive: The number of new coronavirus cases reported in China over the past week suggested that the outbreak might be slowing — that containment efforts were working. But on Thursday, officials added more than 14,840 new cases to the tally of the infected in Hubei Province alone, bringing the total number to 48,206, the largest one-day increase so far recorded. ... The sharp rise in reported cases illustrates how hard it has been for scientists to grasp the extent and severity of the coronavirus outbreak in China, particularly inside the epicenter, where thousands of sick people remain untested for the illness. (Rabin, 2/12)
Reuters:
Coronavirus Deaths, Cases Leap In China; Markets Shiver
Health officials in Hubei said 242 people had died from the flu-like virus on Wednesday, the fastest rise in the daily count since the pathogen was identified in December. That took total deaths in China from the newly discovered virus to 1,367, up 254 from the previous day, the National Health Commission said. (Zhou and Patton, 2/13)
Reuters:
What Spurt In China's Cases Reveals About Coronavirus
A new diagnostic method has led the Chinese province at the epicentre of a coronavirus outbreak to report a record rise in deaths and thousands more cases on Thursday. The central province of Hubei had previously only allowed infections to be confirmed by RNA tests, which can take days to process. RNA, or ribonucleic acid, carries genetic information that enables identification of organisms such as viruses. (2/13)
The New York Times:
How Many Coronavirus Cases In China? Officials Tweak The Answer
The news was abrupt and, to some, surprising: Overnight, a Chinese province near Russia, had cut its count of confirmed coronavirus cases by more than a dozen. The revision stemmed from what appeared to be a bureaucratic decision, buried in a series of dense documents from the national government. Health officials said that they would reclassify patients who had tested positive for the new coronavirus but did not have symptoms, and take them out of the total count of confirmed cases. ... World Health Organization officials seemed caught off guard when asked about the move at a news conference this week. The change in counting cases is only one factor that has made it difficult for experts to determine the true scale of the epidemic. (Wang, 2/12)
Stat:
Why Reports About Coronavirus Death Rates Can Be Misleading
When a new disease starts to spread, the most pressing questions are: How deadly is this? And how many people are likely to die? One way to measure the severity of disease is by calculating the case fatality rate, or CFR. Watch the video above to find out more about how CFR is determined and how this relates to Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. (Empinado, 2/13)
The Washington Post:
Coronavirus Update: More Than 80 Percent Of Cases Are Mild, Complicating Efforts To Respond
But the virus’s destructive potential has overshadowed one encouraging aspect of this outbreak: So far, about 82 percent of the cases — including all 14 in the United States — have been mild, with symptoms that require little or no medical intervention. And that proportion may be an undercount. ... “The fact that there are so many mild cases is a real hallmark of this disease and makes it so different from SARS,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Health Security. “It’s also really challenging. Most of our surveillance is oriented around finding people who require medical intervention.” (Bernstein and Johnson, 2/12)
The Wall Street Journal:
China Ousts High-Level Officials As Coronavirus Cases Soar
China ousted two top Communist Party officials in Hubei province, the center of the new coronavirus outbreak, hours after health officials there confirmed 14,840 new infections on Wednesday alone—an almost 10-fold increase from a day earlier—indicating that the epidemic is far from tapering off. The high-level firings of the Communist Party secretaries of both Hubei province and its capital of Wuhan, where the contagion is believed to have started last month at a market with live, wild animals, demonstrated Beijing’s disapproval of how they handled a threat that has since mushroomed into an epidemic killing more than 1,000 people and halting business across the country. (Woo, 2/13)
Los Angeles Times:
China Reports More Than 15,000 New Coronavirus Cases Overnight. Here's What That Means
The political shakeup may have been timed to match the change in reporting standards, so that centrally appointed newcomers could be perceived as taking control and fixing the crisis, versus local officials who are now shouldering the blame for allowing the virus’ spread. The change in reporting requirements has only been implemented in Hubei province, not the rest of China. (Su, 2/13)
Reuters:
China's Coronavirus Epicenter Boosts Medical Waste Treatment As New Cases Spike
The Chinese province at the center of the coronavirus outbreak has almost doubled its medical waste handling capacity after media images of bags of garbage piling up uncovered in hospital yards raised public concerns over secondary infections. Adding to the pressure on authorities Hubei province, in central China, on Thursday reported a spike in new cases. Provincial health officials said 242 people had died from the flu-like virus on Wednesday, the fastest daily rise in fatalities so far, with another 14,840 new infections after a change in diagnostic methods. (Xu and Stanway, 2/13)
Reuters:
Chinese Public Dial In For Support As Coronavirus Takes Mental Toll
Hundreds of 24-hour mental health support telephone hotlines have sprung up in China in recent weeks as millions of people fret about catching the coronavirus - and try to avoid infection by staying at home. Medical professionals welcomed the launch of several official services in a country where mental health remains a relatively taboo subject, but cautioned that unofficial talk lines could do more harm than good. (Kirton, 2/13)
The New York Times:
An American In A Locked Down Chinese Town: ‘Everyone Here Is So Bored.’
Weeks before the coronavirus became a national health crisis in China, authorities threatened a doctor, Li Wenliang, who warned about early cases. State media reported that Dr. Li was illegally spreading rumors. That was a red flag for Bob Huang. “People here tend to believe the government. Not me,” said Mr. Huang, who is 50 years old and lives with his mother, Zhang Wanrong, and her caretaker in Zhichang, a town of 300,000 in northern Zhejiang Province. “I’ve watched too many episodes of ‘The X-Files.’” (Stevenson, 2/13)
