The number of infections and deaths continues to rise after the government this week changed the criteria for tracking cases. Early Saturday, officials said on 2641 new cases of coronavirus and 143 deaths for the previous 24 hours.
The new figures came a few hours after Beijing announced new restrictions on people returning to the capital from other parts of the country.
The majority of new cases and deaths have been recorded in the province ofHubei, the epicenter of the epidemic.
Overall, more than 66 000 people have been infected and at least 1523 people died worldwide. The vast majority of cases and almost all deaths occurred in mainland China with the highest concentration in Hubei.
Thursday the count of the number of infected people in Hubei has increased dramatically after the authorities changed the diagnostic criteria for counting new cases. Currently, the government takes into account all the cases diagnosed in the clinical setting, including the use of computed tomography, not only those that are confirmed by a special test sets.
In an interview with Reuters on Friday, the Minister of foreign Affairs of China Wang Yi said that the outbreak was “under control“.
“We have adopted the most correct, the most strict and resolute measures“, — he said, rejecting widespread criticism that the government suppressed warnings, and restricted the provision of essential information in the first days of the outbreak.
