Figures released on Thursday covers the past 24 hours and depicts an increase of 38 deaths and 1,737 cases for a total of 7,711. Of the new deaths, 37 were in the epicenter of the outbreak in Hubei province and one in the southwestern province of Sichuan.
The news appears soon after the 195 Americans evacuated from Wuhan, the Hubei province city of 11 million where the outbreak originated and are undergoing three days of testing and monitoring at a Southern California military base to make sure they do not possess signs of the virus.
According to the foreign ministry, on Thursday, a group of 210 Japanese evacuees from Wuhan landed at Tokyo's Haneda airport on a second government chartered flight. Reports depicts that nine of those aboard the flight showed signs of cough and fever. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during a parliamentary session said three of the 206 Japanese who returned on Wednesday tested positive for the new coronavirus.
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France, New Zealand, Australia and other countries are also pulling out their citizens or devising plans to do so.
The head of the World Health Organization on Wednesday called a new emergency meeting of experts to discuss whether the coronavirus outbreak which began in China constitutes an international health emergency. "I have decided to reconvene the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee on the new coronavirus (2019-nCoV) tomorrow," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Twitter. The WHO chief said that while he was not yet declaring a global health emergency due to coronavirus outbreak, the situation may change soon.
"Most of the 6000+ new coronavirus cases are in China just 1 per cent, or 68 cases, have been recorded to date in 15 other countries. But some person-to-person transmission in three countries outside of China has been recorded. This potential for further global spread is why I called the EC," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Twitter.
The new virus has now infected more people in China than were sickened there during the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak.
While speaking at a news conference in Geneva, on Wednesday, Dr. Michael Ryan said after returning from a trip to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other senior government leaders, China was taking "extraordinary measures in the face of an extraordinary challenge" posed by the outbreak.
About 99% of the cases are in China are found till date. Ryan estimated the death rate of the new virus at 2%, but said the figure was very preliminary. With fluctuating numbers of cases and deaths, scientists are only able to produce a rough estimate of the fatality rate and it is obvious many milder cases of the virus are missed out.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who was in China on Wednesday to assess the level of coronavirus outbreak in the nation, said that the country has been doing a good job in controlling the disease. He also assured that the World Health Organisation was working round the clock with networks of scientists, clinicians, disease trackers, governments and others to coordinate the new coronavirus response.
The WHO chief said that the people who have contracted new coronavirus are showing a wide range of symptoms. Of known cases, most people exhibit milder symptoms, but about one in five people have a severe illness, including pneumonia and respiratory failure.
"People can take a range of measures to protect their health, including hand-washing and properly covering your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing," he said.