China

BEIJING (AP) — The number of confirmed cases of the new virus has risen again in China while fatalities increased to 722 on Saturday, as the ruling Communist Party faced anger and recriminations from the public over the death of a doctor who was threatened by police after trying to sound the alarm about the disease over a month ago.

The government announced that another 3,399 people had been diagnosed over the last 24 hours, reversing two days of declines, and raising the total accumulated number of cases on the mainland to 34,546.

BEIJING, Feb 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A Chinese doctor, among the first to raise the alert about China’s new coronavirus, himself died from the pathogen on Friday, emphasizing the depth of a worsening crisis that has killed at least 630 people.

Ophthalmologist Li Wenliang died at 2:58 am, Wuhan Central Hospital said in a post on its verified account on Chinese social media platform Weibo.

The 34-year-old sent out a message about the new coronavirus to colleagues on Dec 30, but was later among eight whistleblowers summoned by police for “rumour-mongering.”

BEIJING, Feb 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The official Chinese death toll from the coronavirus outbreak rose on Friday to 636, with the government saying total infections had climbed past 30,000.

The toll was raised by 73 new deaths from the epidemic, the National Health Commission said in its daily update.

Another 3,143 new cases of infection were confirmed, bringing total infections in the country thus far to 31,161, it said.

BEIJING, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Many countries and international organizations have provided materials and other kinds of support for China in combating and controlling the novel coronavirus epidemic.

BEIJING (AP) — Japan on Friday reported 41 new cases of a virus on a cruise ship that’s been quarantined in Yokohama harbor while the death toll in mainland China rose to 636, including a doctor who got in trouble with authorities in the communist country for sounding an early warning about the disease threat.

Two docked cruise ships with thousands of passengers and crew members remained under 14-day quarantines in Hong Kong and Japan.

6 February 2020; AFP: China on Thursday said it would halve tariffs on $75 billion-worth of US imports as part of its trade truce with Washington and as officials look to calm markets unnerved by the deadly virus outbreak.

The State Council Tariff Commission said the reductions would come in a month after Beijing and Washington signed a deal to dial down a long-running trade war that has hit the global economy.

BEIJING, Feb 6 (NNN-XINHUA) – The registration for clinical trials on the antiviral drug, Remdesivir, has been approved, and the first batch of pneumonia patients infected by the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) are expected to start taking the drug today (Thursday), according to an official conference, Wednesday.

The approval is jointly supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), the National Health Commission and the National Medical Products Administration.

BEIJING, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- A total of 1,153 patients infected with the novel coronavirus had been discharged from hospital after recovery by the end of Wednesday, Chinese health authorities announced Thursday.

Wednesday saw 261 people walk out of the hospital after recovery, the National Health Commission said in its daily report.

By the end of Wednesday, a total of 563 people had died of the disease and 28,018 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection had been reported in 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps in China.

5 February 2020; AFP: Chinese telecom giant Huawei said on Tuesday it would set up manufacturing hubs in Europe, as it tries to fight off US pressure on EU nations to stop it from operating.

"Huawei is more committed to Europe than ever before," said the company's top executive for Europe Abraham Liu during a Chinese New Year reception in Brussels.

5 February 2020; AFP: Millions more people have been ordered to stay indoors as China battles to curb the spread of a new virus that authorities said Wednesday has already killed nearly 500 people.