19 February 2020 10:55 am
The coronavirus epidemic topped two benchmarks on Tuesday, according to new numbers released by Chinese officials. With the 136 new deaths and 1,749 new cases reported, the global death toll of the virus climbed above 2,000, and the total number of confirmed cases rose to more than 75,000.
All but five of the deaths, and the vast majority of cases, occurred in mainland China. One of the most recent fatalities in the central Chinese province of Hubei, the epicentre of the outbreak, was the director of a hospital in the city of Wuhan, who succumbed to the disease at the age of 51.
Meanwhile, the arrival on Monday of 14 infected American evacuees from a cruise ship in Japan brought the total number of cases in the U.S. to at least 29. Hundreds of passengers began disembarking from the ship on Wednesday morning, according to The Associated Press but many will have to undergo another 14 days of quarantine before returning to their country of origin. Over the next few days, Japanese officials plan to disembark the 2,500 people who remain on board.
The virus only proves fatal, according to current data, in about 2% of people infected, with the risks increase significantly for patients of older age. But infectious disease experts have spoken up to say that figure might actually be lower the disease could be less deadly because there could be thousands of undetected infections around the world, many of them mild or even asymptomatic.