Coronavirus outbreak: Wuhan hospital doctor dies from virus as toll hits 41 – updates | Science

A total of 41 people have now died from the coronavirus, according to official Chinese figures. It’s not clear whether the 62-year-old doctor in Wuhan, who died while treating the outbreak, is included in that figure.

The National Health Commission reported a jump in the number of people infected with the virus to 1,287. The latest tally came from 29 provinces across China, including 237 patients in serious condition.

Internationally, here’s what we know about cases confirmed outside of China.

• China has reported 1,287 cases of coronavirus
• Australia confirmed a man in his 50s tested positive for coronavirus on Saturday after returning to Melbourne from Wuhan.
• Malaysia has confirmed 3 cases of the virus
• In France, three people have fallen ill with the virus – the disease’s first appearance in Europe
• The United States reported its second case, involving a Chicago woman in her 60s who was hospitalised in isolation after returning from China
• Two cases confirmed in Vietnam
• Three cases in Singapore
• As of Friday night, five people had been diagnosed with the virus in Hong Kong, according to the South China Morning Post
• On Friday South Korea’s government confirmed the second case of a coronavirus that originated in China, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said.
• Japan – a destination for many lunar new year holiday makers – has confirmed 2 cases
• Thailand’s public health ministry has confirmed five cases.
• Nepal has one infection
• Taiwan has reported three cases and Macao two

Malaysia has just reported its third case of coronavirus. Australia reported its first case on Saturday. I’ll bring you a rundown of where cases are internationally shortly.

China’s Global Times, state media’s tabloid outlet, has tweeted images of empty streets in Wuhan, including the city’s busiest commercial street.

It has also tweeted footage of the race to build the new 1,000-bed hospital in Wuhan to treat patients.

Chinese state media is reporting medical staff from around China are flying to Wuhan to help combat the outbreak of coronavirus.

CGTN said a medical team of 135 experts from Guangdong province were among them the medics flying out.

“They include a group of 24 doctors and nurses from Nanfang Hospital, who had been at the forefront of the battle against the SARs epidemic in 2003,” the broadcaster said.

Chinese state media has posted an update on the number of cases of coronavirus. It’s missing the Australian case diagnosed on Saturday.

The Reuters news agency is reporting that China’s financial hub, Shanghai, has shut down all cinemas during the Lunar New Year holidays, which last until 30 January. They are quoting Liberation Daily online channel. I’ll bring you more on this when i have it.

China has stepped up its repsonse to the crisis by sending 450 military medical personnel to Wuhan, state media has said, according to Agence France-Presse.

The medics, who arrived by aircraft late on Friday, have experience in flighting Sars and Ebola, the statement said. They will be dispatched to hospitals with large numbers of infected patients, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

There are a great many social media posts about the coronavirus, including of footage said to be shot in hospitals in Wuhan which have been grappling with a flood of patients and a lack of supplies. Some of the videos show frantic people in masks lined up for examinations, and some report complaints that family members had been turned away at hospitals that were at capacity.

The videos are hard to verify but we do know that authorities in Wuhan and elsewhere put out calls for medicine, disinfection equipment, masks, goggles, gowns and other protective gear. It’s also pretty clear that people in the city are taking whatever precautions they can to avoid infection.

The Chinese state broadcaster CGTN has also been showing footage of the race to build a new hospital to accomodate the growing number of cases of coronavirus. You can see footage of the build on their tweet below.

The official twitter feed of China Global Television Network (CGTN), formerly known as CCTV, said: “Liang Wudong, a doctor at Hubei Xinhua Hospital who had been at the front line of the #CoronavirusOutbreak battle in Wuhan, dies from the virus at age 62.”

There are reports emerging that a doctor treating patients in Wuhan has died from coronavirus. Chinese state media has named the doctor as 62-year-old Liang Wudong. I’ll bring you more details as soon as I have them.

The Chinese ambassador to London, Liu Xiaoming, has said Beijing is co-operating with the World Health Organization over the outbreak of the virus. The WHO declared the new coronavirus an “emergency in China” this week but has stopped short of declaring it of international concern.

In Hubei province, where the outbreak is believed to have begun, health authorities said on Saturday there were 658 patients affected by the virus in medical care, 57 of whom were critically ill.

As promised, here’s some more of what the Australian PM, Scott Morrison said about the country’s first diagnosed case of coronavirus.

Morrison said a confirmed diagnoses in the country had been anticipated.

“The Australian Government, of course, has been taking this issue incredibly seriously. We have activated the necessary precautions and procedures that are in place,” he said.

Chief medical officers in all states and territories met today he said, to discuss the outbreak.

“What I want to assure Australians about is the preparedness and the plans and the capabilities are in place here in Australia to deal with issues of this nature. We have the people, we have all of the procedures that are now swinging into place to ensure that we can provide the protection to Australians. Now, that said, across the country, even as we speak, our border authorities and biosecurity authorities will be ensuring that those flights that are coming from China will be met by our officials and there will be appropriate information that is being provided to those alighting passengers.”

Morrison confirmed that Australia’s travel advisory had been changed to recommend people do no travel to Hubei province at all.

Australia’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, has just given a press conference about the confirmed case of coronavirus in Melbourne, Australia’s first confirmed. I’ll bring you the details of what he said shortly, but the overall message was for Australian’s to “go about their normal business”.