Coronavirus: China receives protective gear from US as death toll passes 2,000
- Latest Chinese health guidelines say aerosol transmission is possible in certain conditions but main cause of spread remains close contact
- Hubei province continues to be hardest hit, with cumulative totals of 61,682 infections and 1,921 fatalities
While the day’s deaths on the mainland, counted on Tuesday, were up 39 per cent on the previous day, the number of patients who recovered and were discharged from hospital on Tuesday – 1,824 – was, for the first time, greater than the day’s number of new reported cases. Outside Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak, the rise in infections slowed for a 15th consecutive day.
Hubei continued to be hardest hit, with 1,693 of the new cases and 132 of the deaths reported on Wednesday morning, with its daily deaths up 42 per cent. Wuhan, Hubei’s capital, accounted for 1,660 and 116 of these, respectively. To date, more than 9,100 people in Hubei have recovered and been discharged, but 11,200 people remain in severe or critical condition.
US supplies reach China
China said on Wednesday that it had received 16 tonnes of supplies from the United States, including face masks and other protective gear.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said that China hoped the US would deliver on its promised US$100 million donation to help contain the outbreak, made on February 8.
“In the fight against the epidemic, all countries need to pitch in,” Geng said. “We hope that the US$100 million donation the US State Department announced it would make to China and other countries will come to fruition soon.”