Coronavirus infects 1,716 medical staff as China reports 5,090 new cases

The Chinese National Health Commission said 121 new deaths were reported, making the death toll on the mainland 1,380. The commission removed 108 deaths from the Hubei numbers because they had been counted twice.

A passenger at a Beijing railway station covers her head and body with plastic bags for added protection against the coronavirus. Photo: EPA-EFE

Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak, reported a further 4,823 cases of the diseases. It was the 10th straight day that the number of daily new confirmed cases in the country fell, excluding Hubei.

The figures were the second daily batch to be released since the roll-out of expanded diagnostic criteria, under which a diagnosis based on an analysis of symptoms is considered a confirmed case. The new diagnostic criteria are only being used in Hubei.

Zeng Yixin, deputy director of the commission, said it would not rule out using the new diagnosis metric in other provinces. Asymptomatic people who showed symptoms such as fever and cough during quarantine would be reported as confirmed cases, he said.

At a press conference on Friday, Zeng revealed for the first time revealed that 1,716 medical workers were infected with the coronavirus.

Zeng said the number of medical workers infected as of Tuesday was 3.8 per cent of the total infections on mainland China. Of those, 1,502 are from Hubei province, and 1,102 from Wuhan.