China finished building a second new hospital Thursday to isolate and treat patients infected with the new coronavirus and moved people with milder symptoms into makeshift quarantine centers at sports arenas, exhibition halls and other public spaces. Testing of a new antiviral drug, meanwhile, was set to begin on patients. A look at the latest developments in the outbreak: RISING TOLL AND YOUNGEST VICTIM The number of people infected globally rose to more than 28,200 and the death toll climbed past 560, with the overwhelming majority of cases in China. More than 200 people with the illness have been reported in over two-dozen other countries, including Japan, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea and the United States. China’s National Health Commission said the number of infected patients who were “discharged and cured” stood at 1,153. No details were given, but milder cases have been seen in younger, healthier people. The youngest patient is a baby born Saturday in the epicenter city of Wuhan and confirmed positive just 36 hours after birth, authorities said. “The baby was immediately separated from the mother after the birth and has been under artificial feeding. There was no close contact with the parents, yet it was diagnosed with the disease,” Zeng Lingkong, director of neonatal diseases at Wuhan Children’s Hospital, told Chinese TV. Zeng said other infected mothers have given birth to babies who tested negative, so it is not yet known if the virus can be transmitted in the womb. That “needs further study,” he said. The new virus is in the coronavirus family that includes MERS and SARS, and it causes fever, cough, shortness of breath and, in severe cases, pneumonia. MORE HOSPITAL BEDS A new, rapidly constructed 1,500-bed hospital specially built to deal with the outbreak was completed in Wuhan, days after a 1,000-bed hospital with prefabricated wards and isolation rooms began taking patients. Wuhan is also operating an additional 132 quarantine sites with more than 12,500 beds, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. Authorities are racing to increase the number of beds in Wuhan and the rest of hard-hit Hubei province, where the health care system has been so overwhelmed that some sick people have been turned away from hospitals and sent home, raising the risk of their spreading the virus to others. All together, more than 50 million people are under virtual quarantine in Hubei in an unprecedented — and unproven — bid to bring the outbreak under control. In Hong Kong, hospital workers demanding a shutdown of the territory’s border with mainland China were on strike for a fourth day. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam announced a 14-day quarantine of all travelers entering the city from the mainland starting Saturday, but the government has refused to seal the border entirely. QUARANTINED CRUISE SHIPS Two docked cruise ships with thousands of passengers and crew members remained under 14-day quarantines in Hong Kong and Japan. Ten passengers confirmed to have the virus were escorted off the Diamond Princess at the port of Yokohama near Tokyo, after 10 others were taken off the previous day. Those taken to hospitals Thursday were mostly in their 60s and 70s, four of them Japanese, two Americans, two Canadians, one New Zealander and one Taiwanese. Tests were still pending on others on board who had symptoms or […]
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