China will succeed in coronavirus counter-attack, Donald Trump says; 73 new fatalities reported
- Death toll in China rises to 636, with 3,143 new cases on Thursday
- Hubei province reported 69 new deaths and 2,447 confirmed new cases
Health authorities in China pegged deaths caused by the novel coronavirus epidemic on Thursday at 73, with 69 in Hubei province, according to official figures released early Friday. The updated numbers raise the death toll in mainland China to 636.
Newly confirmed cases rose by 3,143, a second consecutive daily drop, bringing the total to 31,161 cases in the country, according to data released on Friday morning by China’s National Health Commission (NHC).
Most of the deaths came from Hubei province, epicentre of the outbreak, where 69 new fatalities from the epidemic were reported on Thursday, one less fatality compared with the day before. The total death toll in Hubei rose to 618, the province’s health commission said.
Trump: China will contain outbreak
US President Donald Trump has expressed confidence in China’s efforts to contain the outbreak, saying the drive would be a “successful operation”.
In a tweet on Friday, Trump said he had a long and “very good conversation” with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“He is strong, sharp and powerfully focused on leading the counter-attack on the coronavirus. He feels they are doing very well, even building hospitals in a matter of only days. Nothing is easy, but he will be successful, especially as the weather starts to warm & the virus hopefully becomes weaker, and then gone,” he wrote.
“Great discipline is taking place in China, as President Xi strongly leads what will be a very successful operation. We are working closely with China to help!”
During the conversation on Friday, Xi told Trump that China’s economic development would not be affected by the outbreak, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
