The death toll attributed to the deadly novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak reached 492, with 24,537 cases reported from around the world on February 4, as per latest reports. Among these, 490 fatalities and 24,324 cases were reported in mainland China.
With cases mounting on a rapid pace, China built two specialized hospitals at Wuhan, the city which has been hardest hit during the current epidemic, thus adding 2,600 beds to treat the patients infected by coronavirus. To add more beds, gymnasiums, exhibition centres and sports centres in the city are going to be converted into hospitals.
Coronavirus update: death toll and latest cases
On Tuesday, 65 fatalities and 3,887 new cases were reported in China, South China Morning Post reported. More than 65 percent of the cases in China have been reported in its Hubei province, that has served as the epicentre of the current virus outbreak. All 65 fatalities reported on Tuesday, took place in Hubei and 3,156 out of 3,887 new cases, were reported in Hubei, itself.
Of the 3,156 cases reported in Hubei, almost 2,000 took place in its capital Wuhan, which reported the first case of novel coronavirus infection, on December 31, originating from its local seafood market.
China builds two specialized hospitals in record 10 days
To deal with a large number of cases, China has built two specialized hospitals, with a total of 2,600 beds, at Wuhan. One of them, with 1,000 beds, was inaugurated on Monday, The second hospital, with 1,600 beds, will start admitting patients from Thursday.
In order to add 10,000 additional beds in Wuhan, the authorities are converting an additional eight buildings, including gymnasiums, exhibition centres and sports centres, into hospitals, Xinhua reported.
UN Secretary-General cautions against stigma, urges support
In a press conference on Tuesday, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addressed the issue of racism and discrimination, that Chinese in particular and Asians at large, are facing due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.
He called out the global community to show, "a strong feeling of international solidarity, a strong feeling of support to China in these difficult circumstances and all the countries that might be impacted, and a strong concern to avoid the stigmatization of people that are innocent, and victims of the situation".
