02/18/2020 - 11:27
- Clarín.com
- World
The fight against the coronavirus in Wuhan , epicenter of the epidemic that is spreading to the rest of China and several other countries, suffered a severe blow Tuesday. Liu Zhiming , director of the main hospital in that city died at age 51 after becoming infected with the virus, the local health commission said.
Liu thus became the seventh health worker who dies from COVID-19 of the more than 1,700 doctors and nurses infected in China. The city's health department announced that it became infected and died despite all attempts to save it.
In the announcement about the death, the Wuhan health commission said it had been part of the battle against the virus from the beginning and had made "important contributions in the work of control and control of the new coronavirus."
"Unfortunately, he became infected and died at 10:54 on Tuesday at age 51 after all our efforts to save him failed," the statement said.
His death occurs while Chinese authorities cautiously celebrated a reduction in the number of new cases and daily deaths, in addition to the results of a study that shows that the majority of people who contracted the virus suffered only mild symptoms.
On Tuesday, China reported 1,886 new cases and 98 other deaths from coronaviruses in its update on the disease. In the continental territory, the number of deaths reported rose to 1,868 and the total number of confirmed cases to 72,436.
Wuhan and the surrounding cities in Hubei province record the majority of those infected and killed, which led the government to impose a travel ban that has been extended to various parts of the country and now includes a 14-day self-isolation for anyone You travel outside your district.
In addition, two new prefabricated hospitals were erected in Wuhan to care for patients and thousands of medical workers were mobilized from other parts of the country to help.
A study by the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that more than 80% of those infected had mild symptoms and that the number of new infections seems to be falling since the beginning of the month. The director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said at a press conference that it is too early to know if the downward trend will continue, but "all scenarios remain on the table."
The apparent decrease in the number of cases occurs after a significant increase last week after the province of Hubei, the most affected, began counting them based on the doctors' diagnoses, without waiting for the results of the laboratory. Local health authorities explained that the change sought to treat patients faster.
The study of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention examined 44,672 cases of COVID-19 confirmed in China until February 11. 14% of the patients suffered severe symptoms such as pneumonia, and 5% had a critical picture. The mortality rate was 2.3% (2.8% in men and 1.7% in women).
With information from AP.
JPE
