Global Covid-19 deaths cross 3,000 while patient recovery improves to 50 per cent
China’s National Health Commission (NHC) reported 202 new confirmed cases on Monday (March 2), 196 of them in Hubei province where the epidemic began.
The global number of Covid-19 patients is 88,929 confirmed cases, of whom 3,044 died while 44,843 have recovered, nearly 50 per cent of cases.
The number of new cases has been going down and the 202 reported on Monday was the lowest since January 22. Hubei officials expect the number of new cases to drop to between 10 to 100.
However, the worsening situation in Italy has become a cause for concern, with the death toll rising to 34 and 1,694 confirmed cases, while Iran has seen 54 deaths and 978 confirmed cases, increasing almost 40 per cent in 24 hours.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Sunday (March 1) that mostly the elderly aged 60 and above, and people who carried other diseases, seemed most vulnerable to the infection. Most of the infected cases have had mild symptoms but 14 per cent had suffered from pneumonia symptoms and 5 per cent had entered critical levels.
The latest mortality rate is between 2 to 5 per cent, which is considered small compared to Sars (9.5 per cent) and Mers (34.5 per cent).