New details on nearly 45,000 cases of COVID-19 coronavirus in China show that 80% of cases are mild and the number of new cases has been declining for most of February. The report, released Monday by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, offer some hope that the outbreak might be abating, the Associated Press reported. Still, “it’s too early to tell if this reported decline will continue. Every scenario is still on the table,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director of the World Health Organization, said during a media briefing Monday. Among the cases studied in the Chinese report, 14% developed pneumonia and 5% developed critical illness. The fatality rate has been 2.3% — 2.8% for males and 1.7% for females. Health care workers have high exposures to COVID-19, and the AP reported that another Chinese doctor on the front lines of fighting the virus has died Tuesday from complications tied to the illness. Liu Zhiming directed the Wuchang hospital in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak. The 51-year-old is the eighth health care worker to die of the disease, the Washington Post noted. On Tuesday, the case count in mainland China reached 72,436, while the number of deaths hit 1,868, the AP reported. Outside China, 14 of the more than 300 U.S. passengers evacuated from a cruise ship hit by the coronavirus outbreak tested…  read on >

As the number of coronavirus cases reached 75,000 and deaths topped 2,000, a two-week quarantine of a cruise ship docked in Japan ended Wednesday. About 300 Americans were recently evacuated from the Diamond Princess over the weekend and are already under quarantine in the United States. Fourteen of those evacuees have tested positive for the new COVID-19 virus. More than 100 American passengers still remain in Japan, however, and U.S. health officials announced Tuesday that they will not be allowed to return home for at least two more weeks. According to a statement from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, containment measures that were taken on the ship “may not have been sufficient to prevent transmission. [The] CDC believes the rate of new infections on board, especially among those without symptoms, represents an ongoing risk.” Passengers who stayed on the ship will not be allowed to return to the United States until they have been off the ship for 14 days, without any symptoms or a positive test for the virus, the agency added. The ruling also applies to Americans who are hospitalized in Japan. In some good news, details released on nearly 45,000 cases of coronavirus in China show that 80% of cases are mild and the number of new cases has been declining for most of February. The report, released Monday…  read on >

The number of new COVID-19 coronavirus cases in China dropped Thursday, but the decline might just be due to new methods in how case numbers are tallied. Also on Thursday, two infected passengers from the Diamond Princess cruise ship that had been quarantined in Japan died. The decline in Chinese cases was due in part to Chinese health officials again changing how they tally infections. Now, they are discounting patients whose lab tests come back negative and they are refining how they first assess sick patients, the Associated Press reported. Under the new system, 394 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed Thursday while 279 were discounted, the wire service said. There have now been a total of 74,576 cases and 2,118 deaths in mainland China. The two cruise ship passengers who died were an elderly Japanese couple who had been hospitalized during the quarantine, the AP reported. The ship’s quarantine ended Wednesday. Among the 400 Americans who were on board that same cruise ship, roughly 300 Americans were evacuated over the weekend and are under quarantine in the United States. At least 14 of those evacuees have tested positive for the new COVID-19 virus. More than 100 American passengers remain in Japan, however, and U.S. health officials announced Tuesday that they will not be allowed to return home for at least two more weeks. According…  read on >

Coronavirus cases in China have nearly reached 64,000, while the death count is approaching 1,400, Chinese health officials reported Friday. For the first time, the number of medical workers who have been infected with the virus was reported Friday, with 1,700 confirmed illnesses and six deaths, The New York Times reported. Meanwhile, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday that two new cases have been confirmed in this country, upping the total from 13 to 15. Both of the new cases involved patients who were among the hundreds of American evacuees from China’s Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak. The latest case, announced Thursday, “is among a group of people under a federal quarantine order at JBSA-Lackland in Texas because of their recent return to the U.S. on a State Department-chartered flight that arrived on February 7, 2020,” the CDC said in a statement. “The individual is currently isolated and receiving medical care at a designated hospital nearby,” the agency said. The CDC added that testing of all evacuees is still underway, and “there will likely be additional cases [identified] in the coming days and weeks.” “Most of the disease is in China. However, we can and should be prepared for this new virus to gain a foothold in the U.S,” Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for…  read on >

Coronavirus is most infectious when patients are at the peak of their illness, U.S. health officials said Friday. “Based on what we know now, we believe this virus spreads mainly from person to person among close contacts, which is defined as about six feet, through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes,” Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said during a media briefing on Friday. “People are thought to be the most contagious when they are most symptomatic, that is when they are the sickest,” she added. “Some spread may happen by touching contaminated surfaces and then touching the eyes, nose and mouth,” she added. “But remember, we believe this virus does not last long on surfaces. Some spread may happen before people show symptoms. There have been a few reports of this with the new coronavirus, and it is compatible with what we know about other respiratory viruses, including seasonal flu. But right now, we don’t believe these last two forms of transmission are the main driver of spread.” Messonnier also noted that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has launched a new strategy aimed at stemming any potential spread of coronavirus within the United States. The “CDC has begun working with five public health labs across the U.S. to tap into…  read on >

The coronavirus outbreak that is raging in China continued to spread Monday, with just over 40,000 cases and 908 deaths now confirmed. Those numbers far exceed the toll of the 2003 SARS outbreak, in which 8,098 were infected and 774 died worldwide, the Associated Press reported. Outside China, more than 440 cases have been reported, including two deaths. As of Monday morning, a total of 23 Americans onboard a quarantined cruise ship in Japan have also now tested positive for the virus, according to the AP. So far, a total of 136 passengers on the Diamond Princess, docked in Yokohama, Japan, have confirmed illness and 600 0f the 3,711 passengers have requested medications. Late last week, a 60-year-old man living in Wuhan, China, became the first American citizen to die from the new coronavirus that first surfaced in that Chinese city. The man, whose name has not been disclosed, died Thursday at Jinyintian Hospital in Wuhan, the U.S. Embassy in China said Saturday. According to the Washington Post, the embassy issued a statement with “our sincerest condolences to the family on their loss. Out of the respect for the family’s privacy, we have no further comment.” It’s not clear why the man was not able to leave Wuhan on one of a number of U.S. State Department evacuation flights that brought hundreds of Americans to…  read on >

While the number of new cases of coronavirus in China slowed on Wednesday, the death count has now risen to 1,113, Chinese health officials reported. Those totals far exceed the toll of the 2003 SARS outbreak, in which 8,098 were infected and 774 died worldwide, the Associated Press reported. On Tuesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) also gave the infamous virus a new name: COVID-19. In the United States, 13 infections had been confirmed as of Tuesday. The latest case involved one of the hundreds of evacuees who were sent to four military bases and quarantined in the past two weeks. That patient is now in isolation in a hospital near March Air Reserve Base in San Diego, the AP reported. Things are much worse for Americans on board a cruise ship named the Diamond Princess, which has been quarantined in the Japanese port of Yokohama. Thirty-nine new cases were reported there on Wednesday, the APsaid. There have now been 174 cases reported, and at least 23 of those are American patients. Meanwhile, the first group of 195 American evacuees, who were flown out of Wuhan, China, on Jan. 29, have been cleared from their quarantine, the AP reported. More than 500 Americans who were evacuated last Thursday remain under quarantine, the news service said. Late last week, a 60-year-old man living in Wuhan, China,…  read on >

After charting a slight decline in growth earlier this week, new coronavirus cases in China jumped by almost 15,000 in a single day, while the death count spiked to 1,367, Chinese health officials reported Thursday. Meanwhile, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced late Wednesday that a 14th case of coronavirus has been confirmed in this country. The patient was one of the hundreds of American evacuees from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the outbreak. “Most of the disease is in China. However, we can and should be prepared for this new virus to gain a foothold in the U.S,” Dr. Nancy Messonier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said during a media briefing on Wednesday. “At some point, we are likely to see community spread in the U.S. or other countries, and that will trigger a change in our response strategy.” Though it’s not clear why so many new cases were confirmed in China in the past 24 hours, it is believed that doctors are now using lung scans to diagnose people who appear to have coronavirus symptoms, The New York Times reported. The medical reasoning is that doing so will get more ill people treated more quickly, the newspaper said. But U.S. experts noted that lung scans are not as precise as the tests health officials have…  read on >

More Americans were evacuated from the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in China late Thursday, as the number of cases worldwide surpassed 31,000. Two chartered planes carrying about 300 Americans have left Wuhan, the U.S. State Department said Thursday night. Both flights will stop at Travis Air Force base in northern California, the Associated Press reported. Anyone showing symptoms of illness will be quarantined there, while the planes continue on to military bases in San Antonio, Texas, and Omaha, Neb., the wire service said. But U.S. health officials said it is unlikely there will be any ill passengers on board either plane, the AP reported. These are the fourth and fifth flights to evacuate Americans from China in the past week. About 540 Americans are already quarantined at two military bases in California, NBC News reported. On Wednesday, two planes carrying 350 Americans landed at Travis Air Force base. Some of those passengers were then flown to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar near San Diego. Both groups were put under a 14-day quarantine, U.S. health officials said. The first group of evacuees, who were flown out of Wuhan, China, a week ago, were moved off Travis Air Force Base in anticipation of the new arrivals, the AP reported. That first group was told on Wednesday that they have all tested negative for coronavirus, health officials…  read on >

A 60-year-old man living in Wuhan, China, has become the first American citizen to die from the new coronavirus that first surfaced in the Chinese city. The man, whose name has not been disclosed, died Thursday at Jinyintian Hospital in Wuhan, the U.S. Embassy in China said Saturday. According to the Washington Post, the embassy issued a statement with “our sincerest condolences to the family on their loss. Out of the respect for the family’s privacy, we have no further comment.” It’s not clear why the man was not able to leave Wuhan on one of a number of U.S. State Department evacuation flights that brought hundreds of Americans to the United States over the past week, but he may have already been too ill to fly. In Tokyo, Japan’s Foreign Ministry also announced the death from coronavirus of the first Japanese citizen, a man in his 60s living in Wuhan, the Post reported. Only two people living outside of China have so far died of coronavirus, the Post noted — a Wuhan man in the Philippines and a man in Hong Kong. Also on Saturday, the death toll in China took it’s biggest one-day jump ever, with 86 new deaths recorded over the past 24 hours, Chinese officials said. That puts the total number of deaths from the outbreak at 723. Confirmed cases on…  read on >