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China announces just 394 new cases of the killer coronavirus – the lowest daily toll in a MONTH as Beijing says outbreak control efforts ‘are working’
- Official figures show almost 74,600 patients in China have been infected
- While 1,150 more cases have been recorded across the rest of the world
- More than half of the cases outside of China were on the Diamond Princess
- Data shows the global death toll for SARS-CoV-2 now stands at almost 2,130
- Do you have a coronavirus story? Email stephen.matthews@mailonline.co.uk
China today announced just 394 cases of the killer coronavirus – the lowest daily toll of SARS-CoV-2 in almost a month.
Figures show almost 74,600 patients in China have been infected, while 1,150 cases have been recorded across the rest of the world.
More than half of the cases outside of China have been on the Diamond Princess, a cruise ship quarantined off the coast of Japan.
The global death toll now stands at almost 2,130, with two Japanese passengers on board the gigantic vessel today becoming the latest victims.
Beijing’s top diplomat today applauded China’s efforts to control the deadly crisis, claiming that the unprecedented lockdowns ‘are working’.
Hundreds of millions of people across the nation have been stung by travel bans, as well as the closure of roads, railways and public transport.

Figures show almost 74,600 patients in China have been infected, while 1,150 cases have been recorded in the rest of the world
Beijing’s top diplomat Wang Yi said the outbreak was ‘controllable and curable’ – despite the global panic it has seeded.
He told a summit in Vientiane, Laos: ‘China is not only protecting its own people but also the rest of the world.’
The hastily-convened meeting between 10 southeast Asian nations was called amid fears the outbreak is damaging economies.
The virus emerged in the city of Wuhan, the capital of the central province of Hubei, at the end of December.
Scientists have speculated that the infection was passed to people from wildlife sold illegally in a market.
The government has locked down tens of millions of people in several virus-hit cities, and pulled flights in a scramble to contain the virus.
China’s National Health Commission last week controversially changed how cases of the coronavirus were diagnosed.
Initially, authorities used nucleic acid tests to identify the presence of the virus but these required days of processing and were in short supply.
Hubei then began to confirm cases based on CT scans looking for lung infections – a known complication of the killer virus.
That led to a surge of 15,000 new coronavirus infections for February 12, and sparked fears the virus was suddenly spreading much faster.
Yesterday the NHC announced a U-turn in how cases were being recorded, reverting back to its original method of only counting laboratory-confirmed cases.
As a result, Hubei, which accounts for most of China’s infections, saw a sharp drop in confirmed cases.
The clinical diagnoses were a ‘stop-gap measure’, Wang Guiqiang, head of infectious diseases at Peking University First Hospital, said.
There is no longer a supply issue for nucleic acid tests as there was before – leaving little need to count suspected cases as confirmed, he said.
Excluding Hubei, the number of new confirmed cases in mainland China stood at 45 on Wednesday, down from 56 a day earlier and falling for the 16th consecutive day.
The situation is still severe, although efforts to curb the coronavirus in Hubei have made progress, Vice Premier Sun Chunlan said.
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