With 71 new coronavirus deaths, total number of casualties touches 2,663 in China
Beijing: Seventy-one new coronavirus deaths were reported from China, taking the total number of casualties to 2,663, even as reports suggested that the number of new cases has seen a sharp decline.
According to a daily report released by the National Health Commission (NHC) on Tuesday, the number of confirmed cases has reached 77,658, a jump of 508 cases.
The report stated that 68 deaths were reported in Hubei, two in Shandong and one in Guangdong. China's daily new confirmed cases of COVID-19 outside ground zero Hubei came down to nine, indicating a continued declining trend.
The daily number of cured and discharged patients has surpassed that of new cases for the seventh consecutive day, the NHC claimed.
Monday saw 2,589 people walking out of hospital after recovery, much higher than the new confirmed patients, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. A total of 27,323 patients have been been discharged by the end of Monday, it said.
The agency reported that Monday marked the sixth consecutive day when China's daily number of new infections remained under 1,000. Newly recovered coronavirus patients in both Hubei and Wuhan outnumbered new cases, it said.
Confirming the declining trend, Canadian epidemiologist Bruce Aylward, who headed the WHO mission to China, said the drop in the number of cases was possible due to actions taken by the Chinese government.
"I know the challenges with the statistics that come out of China, sometimes with changing numbers. What we had to do is to look very carefully at different sources of information to say confidently this is actually declining," Aylward told reporters here.
"A lot of compelling data and observations on the ground support this," he added.
Aylward headed the first WHO technical team on February 10 and later paved the way for a 12-member expert team that arrived in Beijing last Monday.
The team, along with Chinese experts, visited worst-hit Hubei province over the weekend to conduct field investigations on the virus outbreak.
Aylward said when he arrived in Beijing on February 10, China was reporting about 2,500 cases a day, which has now declined to over 400. The observation was made from the data collected from fever clinics and the availability of hospital beds, he said, stressing that the numbers dropped amid heightened awareness and the push to get oneself tested.
Secondly, doctors in Wuhan are for the first time reporting vacant beds in hospitals to accommodate new patients, he said, adding that earlier China had to build two makeshift hospitals with a capacity of 2,300 beds.
Later, officials converted stadiums and dormitories into hospitals to accommodate more patients.
"The (WHO) team wanted to be convinced. Very rapidly multiple sources of data point to the same thing that the cases are falling and they are falling because of actions that are being taken," he said, adding that the world needed the experience and expertise of China.
Elaborating further, Aylward said old approaches like suspension of travel and quarantine were used to contain the spread of the virus by the Chinese authorities.
"These significant measures could only be adopted with tremendous collective will, not only in the community but also top officials, which is rare to see," Aylward said. Liang Wannian, who headed the Chinese expert team, said the deadly virus has not significantly mutated. "The animal host has not been confirmed--a bat could be the host, but also a pangolin," Liang Wannian said.
"The transmission route is respiratory droplets. The fecal-oral route needs to be further studied," Liang said in the joint press conference with Aylward.
Liang said 3,000 medical staff, mostly in the worst-hit Wuhan, are estimated to have been infected by the virus. Ten medical staff have died.
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Putin meets Iran's FM Araghchi, says Russia ready to do its best to help bring peace to West Asia
Moscow (PTI): Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday met Russian President Vladimir Putin, who hailed the Iranian people for fighting bravely and heroically for their sovereignty and said Moscow is ready to do its best to help bring peace to West Asia as soon as possible.
Araghchi, who held talks with Omani and Pakistani leadership before arriving in Russia, met Putin in St. Petersburg and thanked him for supporting Iran, state-owned TASS news agency reported.
"Russia is ready to do everything in its power to ensure that peace in the Middle East is achieved as soon as possible," Putin said during his meeting with Araghchi, which was also attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Revealing that he received a message from Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei last week, Putin asked Araghchi to convey his "gratitude for this message and best wishes for his health and well-being."
He praised the Iranian people for fighting "bravely and heroically" for their sovereignty, Iran's state-run PRESS TV reported.
"We really hope that, based on the courage and desire for independence, the Iranian people, under the guidance of the new leader, will weather this difficult period of trials and peace will come,” Putin said.
He also stressed that Russia “intends to maintain” its strategic relations with Iran.
Araghchi said that the world witnessed Iran’s strength in countering the US during the recent war, and that the Islamic Republic is a "stable and powerful establishment."
"With their courage, the Iranian people succeeded in resisting the US aggression and will be able to endure it,” he said.
He said that it became clear that Iran has “great friends and allies” like Russia, and conveyed “warmest greetings” from Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian to the Russian leader.
Araghchi said relations between Moscow and Tehran represent a “strategic partnership at the highest level” and will continue to develop "regardless of circumstances."
"We are grateful to you for the solid and strong positions in support of the Islamic Republic of Iran," he said.
Foreign Minister Lavrov said that the talks between President Putin and the Iranian Foreign Minister were "useful and constructive."
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov later said that Russia is "ready to provide any good offices, any mediation services that are acceptable to the parties."
"We will be ready to do everything so that ultimately peace ensues, guaranteed peace, and that there is no return to hostilities," Peskov was quoted as saying by TASS.
He was asked how Moscow can assist in future negotiations on the Iranian settlement.
Araghchi arrived in Russia after his whirlwind trip to Islamabad, which, according to him, was “very productive” and involved “good consultations" with Pakistan's Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, amid uncertainty over the second round of peace talks to resolve the war in West Asia.
"We held good consultations with our friends in Pakistan. The trip was successful. We assessed the outcome of our recent (meetings) and discussed in what direction and under what conditions talks can move on,” Araghchi said in a video posted on his Telegram channel upon his arrival in St Petersburg.
Referring to the second round of talks between the US and Iran to resolve the conflict in West Asia, Araghchi said: "Developments have taken place in the negotiations."
"Despite some progress in earlier rounds, the talks failed to reach their objectives due to the Americans' approach, the excessive demands they made, and the wrong approaches they adopted. Therefore, it was necessary to consult with our friends in Pakistan to review the latest situation,” Iran's official news agency IRNA quoted him as saying.
He said that the trip to Pakistan was a good opportunity to review developments related to the US-Israeli war against Iran, expressing confidence that “these consultations and coordination between the two countries will be highly significant.”
Araghchi arrived at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport early Monday, where he was welcomed by Russian officials and Iran’s ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, the report said.
The first round of peace talks between Iran and the US, held on April 11 and 12, failed to bring the desired result for the parties to the conflict.
The Iranian minister arrived in Islamabad for the second time on Sunday after a short visit to Oman, where he held talks with Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said on security in the Strait of Hormuz and diplomatic efforts to end the Iran-US conflict.
After Araghchi left Pakistan for Oman on Saturday, President Donald Trump announced that US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would no longer be going to Islamabad for talks with Iran, contending that Washington held all the cards on the matter.
Trump on Sunday reiterated that the US and Iranian officials can talk by phone for a peace solution to the conflict.
On Tuesday, Trump extended the two-week ceasefire with Iran indefinitely to give Tehran more time to prepare a unified proposal to end the war, just hours before the truce was set to expire.
The war began when the US and Israel jointly attacked Iran on February 28, killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several top commanders. The retaliation by the Islamic Republic extended the war to the entire Gulf region.
