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As strengthened measures were implemented on control, prevention and treatment of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) pneumonia, China has seen multiple encouraging signs in the battle against the coronavirus outbreak.
Officials with the National Health Commission (NHC) said at a press conference Tuesday in Beijing that the majority of coronavirus patients in the country only suffer from mild symptoms and the average hospital stay is no longer than 20 days.
Chinese health authorities are also optimistic due to significant statistics that showcase the dropping fatality rate and declining daily number of fever patients.
MILD SYMPTOMS IN THE MAJORITY
Most patients that have been infected with the coronavirus only show mild symptoms, Jiao Yahui, an NHC official said at the press conference.
Jiao called on people not to mistakenly believe that all patients are suffering from severe symptoms even though the Tuesday press conference mainly introduced situations of severe patients. She also urged people not to panic.
The average hospital stay of discharged patients with novel coronavirus pneumonia in Hubei Province, where the virus was first detected, lasted for 20 days, while those infected with the virus outside Hubei are hospitalized for an average of just over nine days, according to Jiao.
By the end of Monday, a total of 632 patients infected with the novel coronavirus had been discharged from hospitals, the NHC said in its daily report, adding that Monday saw 157 people discharged from the hospital after recovery, 101 of which were in Hubei.
"We are eager to see a turning point in the outbreak situation as early as possible," Jiao said.
Aerial photo taken on Feb. 4, 2020 shows people working inside the "Wuhan Livingroom", which is converted into a hospital to receive patients infected with the novel coronavirus, in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province. (Xinhua/Cheng Min)
DECLINING FATALITY RATE
The NHC also announced Tuesday that the case fatality rate (CFR) of the novel coronavirus-related pneumonia had seen a decrease.
The CFR of the coronavirus infection on the Chinese mainland has dropped from an initial 2.3 percent at the beginning of the outbreak to the current 2.1 percent, according to the NHC.
Hubei Province, the epicenter of the epidemic, has seen a majority of the deaths. The province has a death toll of 414, over 97 percent of the total, and its CFR was as high as 3.1 percent, the NHC official said.
Currently, more than 80 percent of the deaths were elderly people over 60 years old and over 75 percent had at least one underlying disease such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and tumors, Jiao said.
Elderly people with underlying diseases infected with any kind of pneumonia would be at a higher risk, she added.
Official data showed that a total of 425 people had died of the disease as of the end of Monday while the number of confirmed cases has reached to 20,438.
Jiao also noticed that the number of newly-cured patients with novel coronavirus pneumonia has exceeded the new death toll since Jan. 28. She said that the number might rise and fall in the upcoming days, but the current recovery rate has proven that the comprehensive treatment for the epidemic is gradually taking effect.
"China is going all out to improve admission and survival rates and reduce infection and fatality rates," she said.
A researcher of Stermirna Therapeutics Co., Ltd. shows the experiment to develop an mRNA vaccine targeting the novel coronavirus in east China's Shanghai, Jan. 29, 2020. (Xinhua/Ding Ting)
SLOWING INCREASE OF FEVER PATIENTS
The daily number of patients in fever clinics across the country has declined as the country continues its rigorous measures to fight a novel coronavirus outbreak, the NHC official said.
National data showed that the country's fever clinics received a total of 220,865 patients on Monday, 7 percent lower than the previous day, said Jiao, adding that the figure has been declining for days, which is gradually easing the burden on medical staff working in fever clinics.
Jiao also noted that the situation in Wuhan, Hubei Province, is still challenging, with over 12,000 patients visiting fever clinics on Monday, but the increase is slowing.
Fever, cough and weakness are major symptoms of the novel coronavirus infection. A total of 15,000 fever clinics have been set up across the mainland.
