Coronavirus: nearly 1,400 dead, the US deplores a "lack of transparency"
Le bilan de l'épidémie du nouveau coronavirus, révisé par la Chine en raison de "doublons", approchait vendredi 1.400 morts, tandis que les Etats-Unis déploraient un "manque de transparence" de la part de Pékin.
Près de 64.000 cas de contamination ont désormais été enregistrés en Chine continentale (hors Hong Kong et Macao), selon des chiffres officiels, marquant une explosion ces deux derniers jours en raison d'une définition élargie des cas d'infection.
The Chinese National Health Commission, which acts as a ministry, reported on Friday 121 new deaths within the country within the last 24 hours, but while removing from the national balance 108 deaths previously recorded within the province of Hubei (center), the epicenter of the epidemic.
It justifies this revision by "duplicates within the statistics", noted after "verification". The national toll was therefore reduced to 1,380 dead. After initially congratulating Beijing on its "very professional work" within the face of the epidemic, the White House ostensibly distanced itself from Thursday. "We are a small amount disappointed with the shortage of transparency on the part of the Chinese," said Larry Kudlow, President Donald Trump's chief economic adviser, to the press. "Is the political bureau (the administration of the party, Editor's note) honest with us?".
He particularly regretted that Beijing had declined Washington's insistent proposals to send American experts to China: the Chinese authorities "do not allow us to go," insisted Mr. Kudlow. - New definition - These American critics intervene whereas the health authorities of Hubei announced Thursday with the final surprise a widening of their definition of the people reached with virus infection Covid-19. Until now, a supermolecule screening test was essential to declare a case "confirmed". From now on, patients "clinically diagnosed", specifically with a straightforward chest X-ray, also will be counted.
This new method has automatically inflated the amount of dead and officially infected people, with the announcement Thursday of a surge of over 15,000 new cases of contamination, and Friday over 5,000.
These figures depict a more serious situation than reported to date, but "does not represent (s) a big change within the trajectory of the epidemic," tempered the top of the department of health emergencies of the planet Organization health (WHO), Michael Ryan. With this new method, the authorities in Hubei specifically emphasize their desire to produce patients with treatment as quickly as possible
- an answer which has received WHO approval. However, the figures announced Thursday sharply contrasted with those of the day before, when China had reported an all-time low number of latest infections in almost period. The city of Wuhan, where the new coronavirus appeared in December, and also the surrounding province of Hubei are factual bring to a halt from the planet for over three weeks.
- Fired - The two leaders of the Chinese party (CCP) for Hubei and Wuhan, castigated by opinion for his or her management of the crisis, were sacked on Thursday