Coronavirus Deaths Climb Past 1,000, But Number Of New Cases Outside Epicenter Is Decreasing

The New York Times: A Grim Landmark As Official Death Toll In China Tops 1,000
The death toll from the coronavirus epidemic is continuing to climb, Chinese officials said Tuesday. The government put the nationwide figure at 1,016. That was up 108 from the day before, when it was 908. The number of cases of infection also grew, to over 42,638. The figure for the day before was put at 40,171. (2/10)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Deaths Climb As China Corrals Sick In Quarantine Facilities In Outbreak Epicenter
While Wuhan and Hubei province have been ravaged by the disease, Chinese officials say the number of new cases outside Hubei is declining, in a reflection of strict quarantine measures taking effect nationwide. (Shih, Horton and Iati, 2/10)

Reuters: Coronavirus Emergency 'Holds A Very Grave Threat' For World: WHO
China's coronavirus outbreak poses a "very grave threat for the rest of the world", the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday in an appeal for sharing virus samples and speeding up research into drugs and vaccines. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was addressing the start of a two-day meeting aimed at accelerating research into drugs, diagnostics and vaccines into the flu-like virus amid growing concerns about its ability to spread. (2/11)

The New York Times: ‘Let’s Not Shake Hands’: Xi Jinping Tours Beijing Amid Coronavirus Crisis
When he stepped inside the municipal office five miles north of the Forbidden City, China’s most powerful leader in decades pulled up the sleeve of his black overcoat and held out his wrist. A woman in a mask and surgical gloves then checked to see if he had a fever. It was Xi Jinping’s first public appearance since meeting the Cambodian prime minister last week, and one of only a handful since the epidemic exploded into a crisis last month. It showed him on what state media declared the “front line” of China’s efforts to combat the coronavirus epidemic — even if the actual center of the outbreak lies 600 miles south in the city of Wuhan. (Myers, 2/10)

The Wall Street Journal: President Xi Inspects Coronavirus Hospital In Beijing After Conspicuous Absence
At Chaoyang district’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Mr. Xi learned about how the district, on the eastern edge of central Beijing, was coping with the outbreak, CCTV reported. Mr. Xi in his remarks acknowledged that some medical workers had “sacrificed their lives,” an apparent indirect reference to a young Wuhan doctor, Li Wenliang, whose death last week triggered an emotional response across the country, much of it frustration directed at officials. Dr. Li had been taken in and interrogated by authorities in early January after warning about the dangers of the deadly new virus, before he contracted it himself. (Cheng and Mendell, 2/10)

The New York Times: ‘Like Europe In Medieval Times’: Virus Slows China’s Economy
Workers are stuck in their hometowns. Officials want detailed health plans before factories or offices can reopen. Assembly lines that make General Motors cars and Apple iPhones are standing silent. More than two weeks after China locked down a major city to stop a dangerous viral outbreak, one of the world’s largest economies remains largely idle. Much of the country was supposed to have reopened by now, but its empty streets, quiet factories and legions of inactive workers suggest that weeks or months could pass before this vital motor of global growth is humming again. (Bradsher, 2/10)

Reuters: Coronavirus May Be Over Soon In China, Expert Says, As WHO Warns Of Global Threat
China's coronavirus epidemic may peak in February and then plateau before easing, the government's top medical adviser on the outbreak said. In an exclusive interview with Reuters, Zhong Nanshan, a leading epidemiologist who won international fame for his role in combating the SARS epidemic in 2003, said the situation in some provinces was already improving, with the number of new cases declining. Zhong, who had previously predicted an earlier peak, said the forecast was based on modeling and developments in recent days, as well as government action. (Kirton, 2/11)

Reuters: Here Is What WHO Experts Are Watching On The Coronavirus' Spread
The World Health Organization (WHO) is tracking the epidemic of the new coronavirus in China and how it is spread abroad, as its advance team of international experts travel there to help investigate the outbreak. Here are some issues that WHO epidemiologists are probing to deepen understanding of the virus, believed to have jumped the species barrier at a seafood market in Wuhan in December, to help accelerate development of drugs, diagnostics and vaccines. (Nebehay, 2/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Wuhan Evacuees Hunker Down For Weeks In Quarantine
Tennessee resident David Mayes was in China visiting his girlfriend in Wuhan when officials locked down the city on Jan. 23, aiming to stop a rapidly spreading coronavirus that has killed hundreds there. Overnight, the city turned into a ghost town, Mr. Mayes said. Eight-lane highways were empty. Businesses were shuttered. But some Americans have made it out, on flights chartered by the U.S. State Department from an otherwise-closed airport. (Findell and Abbott, 2/10)

The Wall Street Journal: China’s Delivery Drivers Keep Supplies Flowing In Coronavirus Outbreak
Forced to stay home during the coronavirus outbreak, many residents of the central Chinese metropolis of Wuhan rely on delivery drivers such as Zhang Hao, who risks infection himself as he zooms around the city by moped to deliver groceries and other supplies. In return, some of his customers treat him as a potential carrier of the virus. One woman waited for Mr. Zhang, 36 years old, to back away from her package before she sprayed it with disinfecting alcohol and took it upstairs. Others ask why he is working and whether he worries about getting infected himself. (Woo and Deng, 2/11)

The Associated Press: Virus Storytellers Challenge China's Official Narrative
After nearly a week of roaming China's epidemic-struck city, filming the dead and the sickened in overwhelmed hospitals, the strain of being hounded by both the new virus and the country's dissent-quelling police started to tell. Chen Qiushi looked haggard and disheveled in his online posts, an almost unrecognizable shadow of the energetic young man who had rolled into Wuhan on a self-assigned mission to tell its inhabitants' stories, just as authorities locked the city down almost three weeks ago. (Leicester and Kang, 2/11)

The New York Times: Pangolins Are Suspected As A Potential Coronavirus Host
In the search for the animal source or sources of the coronavirus epidemic in China, the latest candidate is the pangolin, an endangered, scaly, ant-eating mammal that is imported in huge numbers to Chinese markets for food and medicine. The market in pangolins is so large that they are said to be the most trafficked mammals on the planet. All four Asian species are critically endangered, and it is far from clear whether being identified as a viral host would be good or bad for pangolins. It could decrease the trade in the animals, or cause a backlash. (Gorman, 2/10)

Reuters: Bat Meat Still Popular In Parts Of Indonesia, Despite Coronavirus Fears
Bat meat is still popular in some parts of Indonesia, despite research suggesting the coronavirus spreading from China might have originated in bats before being passed on to humans. Bats are traditionally eaten by the Minahasan people from North Sulawesi in the form of a curry-like dish called Paniki. Whole bats are used in Paniki, including the head and wings. (2/11)

CNN: Coronavirus Death Toll Surpasses 1,000 In Mainland China
A total of 108 people in mainland China died from the Wuhan coronavirus on Monday, according to the country's National Health Commission (NHC), marking the first time the single-day death toll has crossed into triple digits. The number of deaths per day in mainland China has steadily risen over the past few weeks, since the Chinese authorities began issuing daily updates. (Berlinger, Marsh and Woodyatt, 2/11)

PBS NewsHour: Can China’s Information About The Novel Coronavirus Be Trusted?
China is struggling to contain an outbreak of novel coronavirus that has now spread in small numbers to at least 25 other countries or territories. Both the official death toll and the number of confirmed cases have doubled in recent days, and there are doubts about the accuracy of data the Chinese government is reporting. (Brangham, 2/10)