China's coronavirus death toll touches 3,042; confirmed cases rise to 80,552
Beijing: The death toll in China's novel coronavirus outbreak has touched 3,042 with 30 new fatalities while the confirmed cases have risen to 80,552 amid signs that the dreaded COVID-19 was stabilising, including in the epicentre Hubei province.
China's National Health Commission (NHC) said that it received reports of 143 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infection and 30 deaths on Thursday on the Chinese mainland.
Among the deaths, 29 were in Hubei Province and one in Hainan Province, NHC said in its daily update of the COVID-19 on Friday.
Meanwhile, 102 new suspected cases were reported taking the 482, it said.
The overall confirmed cases on the mainland so far totalled to 80,552 by the end of Thursday. This included 3,042 people who had died of the disease 23,784 patients still being treated and 53,726 patients discharged after recovery, the NHC said.
Also on Thursday, 16 imported cases (those coming from abroad) of novel coronavirus infection were reported on the mainland, including 11 in Gansu Province, four in Beijing and one in Shanghai.
By the end of Thursday, 36 imported cases had been reported, said the commission.
So far 104 confirmed cases including two deaths had been reported in Hong Kong, 10 confirmed cases in Macao, and 44 in Taiwan, including one death.
Forty-six patients in Hong Kong, nine in Macao and 12 in Taiwan had been discharged from hospital after recovery, NHC said.
China's Hubei Province and its capital Wuhan, the epicentres of the novel coronavirus outbreak, reported 126 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 29 deaths on Thursday.
The latest report brought the total confirmed cases in the hard-hit province to 67,592.
While the province and Wuhan continue to report new cases and deaths, local health commission said the situation on the containment of the virus has been further improving.
The daily count of new cured and discharged cases in the province has exceeded the number of new confirmed cases for 15 consecutive days since February 19 Li Yang, deputy director of the Hubei Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention told media in Wuhan.
Wuhan and the entire Hubei province that has over 50 million population has been kept under lockdown by the Chinese government since January 23.
However, with the situation improving by the end of Tuesday, 22 cities and counties in Hubei had been classified as low-risk, 17 as mid-risk while 37 others remained at high-risk, Li said.
There have been 14,770 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 outside China, with over 267 deaths, state-run People's Daily reported on Friday, citing statistics from the World Health Organisation (WHO).
In the past 24 hours, 2,098 newly confirmed cases outside China have been reported and five new countries/territories/areas (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Gibraltar, Hungary, Slovenia, and occupied Palestinian territory) have reported cases of COVID-19, according to the WHO statistics.
South Korea confirmed 518 more cases of COVID-19 on Friday, raising the total number of infections to 6,284, according to the Yonhap News Agency.
Italy reported a total of 107 deaths of COVID-19 and the total number of infections reached 3,858 on Friday.
The novel coronavirus has now claimed 107 lives out of more than 3,513 cases in Iran on Friday.
France reported a total of 7 deaths of COVID-19 and the total number of infections reached 423 on Friday.
The US' death toll from the COVID-19 rose to 12 on Friday. Nationwide, there are 163 confirmed cases.
The overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 80,552 by the end of Thursday, including 23,784 patients who were still being treated, 53,726 patients who had been discharged after recovery, and 3,042 people who had died of the disease.
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Four held for Rs 6.79 cr loot at Mumbai jewellery shop; thermal drones used to scan forest hideouts
Mumbai (PTI): Four persons were arrested after an intense 48-day manhunt deep inside the forests of Rajasthan for allegedly stealing jewellery worth Rs 6.79 crore from a shop in north Mumbai, a police official said on Monday.
The theft of gold, silver and diamonds from the safe of complainant Sanket Porwal's shop in IC Colony in Borival West took place in January, the MHB police station official said.
"Our probe found that shop employees Prabhu Singh and Narayan Singh allegedly used a duplicate key to unlock the safe and flee with the valuables. Technical analysis traced them to Rajasthan, following which a team went there. The trail eventually led investigators to the dense forest regions of Rajsamand district in the western state," he said.
The accused avoided staying in villages and continued to move deeper into the forest to avoid arrest, the official said. They also kept moving from Rajsamand to Chittorgarh, Sardargarh and Pali districts, he added.
"For 48 days, police officers camped in the jungles, relying on human intelligence and advanced surveillance techniques. Thermal drones were used to scan forest zones where the accused were suspected to be hiding. Further probe revealed the involvement of others identified as Ganpat Singh, Kishan Singh and Mod Singh," he said.
One key accused was traced to a temple located deep inside a forest near Muwariya village in Rajsamand district, while two others were picked up from Kuwariya village based on a tip off, the official added.
Three kilograms of gold worth Rs 4.5 crore as well as five kilograms of silver worth Rs 15 lakh have been seized, and efforts are on to recover the remaining loot, he said.
