BEIJING (AFP): The death toll in China from the coronavirus epidemic rose to 2,236 on Friday (Feb 21) after 118 more people died, most of them in the hard-hit epicentre province of Hubei, the government said.
The number is up from the previous day when it reported the lowest number of new infections in nearly a month, which fuelled hopes that the epidemic is nearing its peak.
The vast majority of the deaths and overall cases in China remain in Hubei and particularly the provincial capital of Wuhan, where the virus first emerged in December. China said on Thursday that it had once again revised the way it confirms infections and would now include only those diagnosed by laboratory tests.
Chinese health officials had last week said that patients from Hubei who had been diagnosed through clinical methods including lung imaging would be added to the count in addition to those confirmed by lab tests.The change was blamed on a backlog of patients awaiting nucleic acid tests whose condition was deteriorating and needed urgent treatment.
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