China’s Hubei province reports 108 more virus deaths; 2,112 dead, over 74,500 infected

BEIJING, China – The death toll from China’s new coronavirus epidemic jumped to 2,112 on Thursday after 108 more people died in Hubei province, the hard-hit epicenter of the outbreak.

In this Feb. 18, 2020, photo released by Xinhua News Agency, workers go door to door to check the temperature of residents during a health screening campaign in the Qingheju Community, Qingshan District of Wuhan in central China’s Hubei Province. Protective suit-clad inspectors in the epicenter of China’s viral outbreak went door-to-door to find every infected person in the central city suffering most from an epidemic that is showing signs of waning as new cases fell for a second day. (Cheng Min/Xinhua via AP)

Most of the deaths were in the provincial capital Wuhan, where the virus first emerged in December, according to the daily update from the Hubei health commission.

More than 74,500 people have now been infected with the new coronavirus nationwide.

Hubei health officials said there had been 615 new cases in Wuhan and 13 more elsewhere in the province.

However, the Hubei health commission said it was reducing the number of previously reported cases in a number of cities in the province by 279.

The adjustment meant a net increase on Thursday of 349 new cases across the province.

Even without the adjustment, the number of new cases was sharply lower than the daily updates of recent weeks. On Wednesday, there were 1,693 new cases reported in the province.

It was not immediately clear how the over-reporting had occurred.

GSG