The death toll from the COVID-19 outbreak yesterday surpassed 1,500 in China as France reported the first fatality outside Asia.
More than 66,000 people have been infected in China and more than 67,000 globally.
In France, an 80-year-old Chinese tourist died from the disease, French Minister of Solidarity and Health Agnes Buzyn said.
Only three other deaths have been recorded outside mainland China — in the Philippines, Hong Kong and Japan.
The death toll in China yesterday rose to 1,523 after 143 more people died in the country, mostly in Hubei Province.
The biggest cluster outside China is on a quarantined cruise ship off Japan, with 285 infections now as dozens more cases were confirmed.
The US is to evacuate its citizens from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, the US embassy in Japan said on its Web site.
The US Department of State is to provide chartered aircraft to take US passengers and crew back to the country.
The aircraft is to arrive this evening and transport the passengers first to Travis Air Force Base in California, and some might be moved to Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. They are to undergo a two-week quarantine.
Beijing’s municipal government on Friday enacted a rule requiring all people entering the capital to quarantine themselves for 14 days, adding that offenders would be punished, official media reported.
Chinese authorities have placed about 56 million people in Hubei and its capital, Wuhan, under quarantine, virtually sealing off the province from the rest of the country in an effort to contain the virus.
A number of cities far from the epicenter have also imposed tough measures limiting the number of people who can leave their homes.
Amid criticism over the handling of the crisis, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) called for tighter policing to protect social stability.
Battling the outbreak is a “big test for the country’s governance system and governance ability,” Xi said in a Chinese Communist Party Central Committee meeting.
The government must “increase use of police force and strengthen the visible use of police” to ensure stability during the crisis, Xi said in a Feb. 3 speech published by state media yesterday.
In another preventive measure, the People’s Bank of China yesterday said that used banknotes were being disinfected with ultraviolet light or high temperatures, and stored for up to 14 days before they are put back into circulation.
The scale of the outbreak ballooned this week after authorities in Hubei changed their criteria for counting cases, retroactively adding thousands of new patients to their tally.
The province on Thursday added more than 14,000 cases in a single day after officials there started counting people clinically diagnosed through lung imaging, in addition to those with a positive lab test result.
The Chinese National Health Commission yesterday reported 2,641 new cases of the COVID-19 strain, with the vast majority in Hubei.
However, the number was almost half those reported the previous day.
“We’re seeking further clarity on how clinical diagnosis is being made to ensure other respiratory illnesses including influenza are not getting mixed into the COVID-19 data,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
The number of new confirmed cases has been steadily falling outside Hubei, with 221 infections reported yesterday.
A top Chinese scientist had predicted that the outbreak could peak by the end of this month after the number of new cases had fallen earlier in the week.
The WHO has cautioned that it was “way too early” to make any predictions about the disease’s trajectory.
An international team of WHO experts are to arrive in Beijing this weekend for a joint mission with Chinese counterparts.
The joint team is to inspect three provinces and cities to review the prevention and control measures, visit research centers and make recommendations for containing the epidemic, the commission said.
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