China says significant drop in coronavirus cases; death toll climbs to 1,665

China on Sunday announced a “significant drop” in coronavirus cases, as the WHO team scrambled to assist Beijing in containing the spread of the virus that has claimed 1,665 lives so far.

The death toll from China's coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic has climbed to 1,665 on Saturday after 142 more people died, mostly in the worst-hit Hubei Province, and the confirmed cases jumped to 68,500.

China's National Health Commission (NHC) confirmed 2,009 new cases across the country.

Hubei and its provincial capital Wuhan, where the virus first emerged in December, reported 1,843 of the new cases. The latest report brought the total confirmed cases in Hubei to 56,249 cases.

Of the new deaths, 139 were in Hubei, two in Sichuan, and one in Hunan, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The report said 9,419 infected patients had been discharged from hospitals after recovery so far.

The Commission announced that the proportion of severe and critical cases of the novel coronavirus disease among all confirmed cases has decreased significantly in China.

"In Wuhan, the epicentre of the epidemic, the proportion of severe cases among the confirmed cases fell from a peak of 32.4 per cent on January 28 to 21.6 per cent on February 15," Mi Feng, a spokesperson with the NHC said during a media briefing here.

Mi said the proportion in other parts of Hubei Province also dropped from a peak of 18.4 per cent on January 27 to 11.1 per cent on February 15.

The percentage in other provinces in China also decreased significantly, falling from a peak of 15.9 per cent on January 27 to 7.2 per cent on February 15, Mi was quoted as saying by the Xinhua news agency.

He said the change in status of the coronavirus cases has proven the current epidemic prevention and control measures were effective.

The authorities and medics are carrying out differentiated measures on the patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19, close contacts of the confirmed cases, and fever patients, he said.

"The differentiated measures ensure that a large number of mild cases are treated in time, reducing the possibility of becoming severe cases," he said.

Mi's assertion of the cases dropping significantly came as the 12 member World Health Organisation experts team is set to begin working along with the Chinese health experts to speed up the containment process of the deadly virus.

India said it would do everything within its means to assist the people of China to combat the deadly coronavirus outbreak and would soon send a consignment of medical supplies.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that international experts are now on the ground in China, working closely with their Chinese counterparts to understand the outbreak and to inform the next steps in the global response, the report said.

Tedros also met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Munich Security Conference.

Tedros said there is a need for all countries to unite and cooperate in the scientific approach and on the basis of factual evidence, instead of spreading fake news and stigma.

"Given the misinformation about the novel coronavirus epidemic, WHO has communicated with some companies including Google to ensure that the public will get the authoritative information from the WHO," Tedros said.

He said that one of the goals of the joint mission is to rapidly inform the public of the next steps in the COVID-19 response and preparedness activities in China and globally.

"Particular attention will be paid to understanding the transmission of the virus, the severity of disease and the impact of ongoing response measures," he said.

In Beijing, China's NHC said that the joint mission with WHO experts will pay field visits to China's three provincial-level regions to learn the implementation and effectiveness of the epidemic prevention and control measures taken in China's urban and rural areas.

"One of the goals of the joint mission is to provide suggestions on the prevention and control of the coronavirus outbreak in China and globally," it said.

In addition, the expert team will visit epidemic-related institutions focusing on epidemiology, medical treatment, laboratory detection and scientific research, the NHC said.

Appropriate arrangements for the team's key inspection fields and schedules have been made after thorough consultation and communication between the Chinese relevant department and Bruce Aylward, a Canadian epidemiologist who led an advance team to assist the ongoing anti-virus fight, the Xinhua report said.

One task of the WHO team along with their Chinese counterparts is to come up with standard medicine to cure the disease.

On Saturday, Chinese officials said that more than half of the coronavirus patients are being treated with Traditional Chinese Medicine in Wuhan, which has helped many of them to recover.

China has also ordered filed trials of a number of drugs to treat the virus.

China has imposed more restrictions on the 60 million people living under lockdown in Hubei province - the centre of the outbreak - in an attempt to control the epidemic.

The use of private cars has been banned and residents have been told to stay at home unless there's an emergency.

Officials say there will be only one exception to this rule - every three days a single person from each household will be allowed out to buy food and other essential items.