China on Saturday completed a five-day construction project for a 1,500-room hospital, while COVID-19 clusters were spreading to Beijing and surrounding provinces.
The state of play: The equipment is that of the six hospitals with a total of 6,500 rooms under construction in Nangong, Xinhua News Agency reported on Saturday by AP. They are all scheduled to end next week.
By numbers: China has reached a maximum of ten months in COVID cases and on Friday reported 168 cases.
- Yes, but: The figures remain well below the levels of infection the country saw last February, when China reached an all-time high of about 15,000 cases a day.
- The country has reported more than 97,000 cases and more than 4,700 deaths as of Saturday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
- It is still possible that China, where the original outbreak of coronavirus occurred, has been underreporting its cases.
What they say: The Chinese government has blamed the increase in food imports and travelers visiting the country.
- The new cases “are all imported from abroad. It was caused by incoming personnel or goods imported from the contaminated cold chain,” the National Health Commission said in a statement, by AP.
The big picture: The WHO agreed last May to call on more than 110 countries to lead an independent review of the global coronavirus response after China backed the decision following clashes with Australia, which had previously advocated a thorough investigation.
Learn more … Chronology: the first days of the outbreak and cover-up of the Chinese coronavirus