卫生官员称，在超过75000例病例中，超过2000人死于这种新的冠状病毒——包括一艘被隔离的游轮上的两名前乘客。
在其最新的报告在周三发布的COVID-19上，世界卫生组织(WHO)称全球有75204人患病，比前一天增加了1872人。大多数病例发生在中国，为74，280例，增加了1，752例。大约136人死亡，使全球死亡人数达到2006年。在中国以外，25个国家有120个新病例，如下图所示Statista—还有三起死亡。
然而，一个仪表盘约翰·霍普金斯大学通过从包括世界卫生组织和中国国家卫生委员会在内的多个官方来源获取数据来追踪新冠状病毒病例，该研究表明，这一数字要高得多。周四上午，报告称已确诊75，727例病例，其中2，129例死亡。
中国官员再次改变了他们统计案件的方式，这一决定可能会让事情变得更加复杂。上周，爆发中心湖北省的官员说，定义是扩大到包括那些使用肺部扫描诊断的患者不仅仅是实验室测试。
Statista提供的信息图显示了COVID-19病例的确诊位置。
周四，中国国家卫生委员会说在一份声明中说，在过去的24小时内已经确认了394例新病例，比前一天的1749人有所下降。
截至周四，湖北省卫生委员会将把疑似病例和确诊病例分开卫报将移除那些被诊断为肺部扫描，但后来在实验室测试中被证实没有感染COVID-19的患者。该委员会的职权范围包括武汉市，在那里，感染被认为是在去年年底从动物传染给人类的。
目前还不清楚这种新方法会对报告产生什么影响周二在中国从COVID-19中康复的人数超过了生病的人数自从新冠状病毒爆发以来第一次。
与此同时，在日本——受疫情影响最严重的国家之一——卫生官员证实，在感染COVID-19的人群中，第一批死亡钻石公主游轮被隔离在横滨市海岸外。
引用日本卫生部的声明，法新社据报告的两个受害者都已经80多岁了，而这个人的健康状况早已存在。这对夫妇在上周开始出现COVID-19症状后被从游轮上带走并送往医院，包括发烧、干咳和气短。游轮上总共有621人的COVID-19检测呈阳性，这意味着该船在中国大陆以外的地方确诊病例最多。
2020年2月17日，中国中部湖北省武汉市，一名戴着防护面罩的男子走在街上。
谨慎鼓励的迹象
英国加的夫大学医学院的传染病读者安德鲁·弗里德曼告诉记者，在湖北省卫生官员改变他们的计数方法之前新闻周刊超过新病例的复苏数量“确实令人鼓舞”
他继续说道:“然而，我认为在得出疫情已经达到顶峰的结论之前，我们需要非常谨慎。这些数字都没有考虑到轻微/无症状的病例，这些病例可能非常大，可能会进一步扩散，”他说。
当被问及中国对付病毒的方法是否奏效时，他说:“我认为很难确定中国采取的严厉措施到底有多有效。我们显然不知道如果他们不采取这些措施会有多糟糕，或者其他方法是否会更有效，尤其是如果他们早点行动的话。"
在评论该病毒成为全球大流行的前景时，弗里德曼说:“我认为我在这个阶段没有多少担心。我认为现在预测事情会如何发展还为时过早。”
这篇文章已经用国家统计局的图表进行了更新。
CORONAVIRUS UPDATE: WHO CONFIRMS OVER 2,000 COVID-19 FATALITIES AS TWO QUARANTINED CRUISE SHIP PASSENGERS DIE
Over 2,000 people have died of the new coronavirus—including two former passengers of a quarantined cruise ship—in more than 75,000 cases, according to health officials.
In its latest report on COVID-19 released Wednesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said 75,204 people had fallen ill worldwide—up by 1,872 from the previous day. Most cases were in China, at 74,280, in an increase of 1,752 cases. Some 136 people died, bringing the global death toll to 2006. Outside of China, there were 120 new cases across 25 countries—as shown in the infographic below by Statista—and three deaths.
However, a dashboard by Johns Hopkins University, which tracks cases of the new coronavirus by drawing data from a number of official sources including the WHO as well as China's National Health Commission, suggests the figures are far higher. On Thursday morning, it stated 75,727 cases had been confirmed, with 2,129 deaths.
In a decision which could arguably complicate matters, officials in China have again changed how they count cases. Last week, officials in the province of Hubei—the epicenter of the outbreak—said the definition was broadened to include those diagnosed using lung scans, not just laboratory tests.
An infographic by Statista showing where COVID-19 cases have been confirmed.
On Thursday, China's national health commission said in a statement that 394 new cases had been confirmed in the past 24 hours, down from 1,749 the day before.
As of Thursday, the Hubei Health Commission will separate suspected cases and confirmed cases, which according to The Guardian would remove those who were diagnosed with lung scans but later confirmed not to have been sick with COVID-19 in laboratory tests. The commission's remit includes the city of Wuhan, where the infection is thought to have first jumped from animals to humans late last year.
It is unclear how the new approach might affect reports that the number of people who recovered from COVID-19 in China on Tuesday had overtaken those who fell ill for the first time since the outbreak of the new coronavirus.
Meanwhile in Japan—one of the countries hardest hit by the outbreak—health officials confirmed the first deaths among those who caught COVID-19 on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which is quarantined off the coast of the city of Yokohama.
Citing a statement from Japan's health ministry, the AFP news agency reported both victims were in their 80s, and the man had a pre-existing health condition. The pair were removed from the cruise ship and taken to hospital last week after they started showing symptoms of COVID-19, which include a fever, dry cough, and shortness of breath. A total of 621 people on board the cruise ship have tested positive for COVID-19, meaning the vessel has the most confirmed cases outside of mainland China.
A man wearing a protective face mask walks on the street in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on February 17, 2020.
Cautiously encouraging signs
Before Hubei health officials changed their counting methods, Andrew Freedman, reader in infectious diseases at Cardiff University School of Medicine, U.K., told Newsweek the number of recoveries overtaking new cases was "certainly encouraging."
He continued: "However, I think we need to be very cautious before concluding that the epidemic has peaked. None of the figures take into account the mild/asymptomatic cases, which may be very large and might allow further spread," he said.
Asked whether China's approach to the virus, which has included effectively putting Wuhan in lockdown have worked, he said: "I think it is very difficult to determine just how effective the drastic measures China has taken have been. We clearly don't know how much worse it would have been if they hadn't taken them or indeed whether other approaches might have been more effective, particularly if they had acted sooner."
Commenting on the prospect of the virus becoming a global pandemic, Freedman said: "I don't think I am any more or less worried at the stage. I think it is still too early to predict how things will go."
This article has been updated with a chart from Statista.
