China admits it has no idea how many people have coronavirus in Wuhan
China admits it has no idea how many people in Wuhan have been exposed to coronavirus as officials hunt for patients door to door
- Beijing's special team said they were yet to confirm the scale of the epidemic
- But it warned the number of potential carriers in Wuhan could be 'quite large'
- An expert warned the number of cases could be up to 25 times the official total
- China's President Xi has called for a battle to defend Wuhan against the virus
- Official have launched door-to-door checks to hunt down suspected sufferers
China has admitted that it still doesn't know how many people have contracted the novel
coronavirus in Wuhan after officials launched door-to-door health checks to hunt for patients.
A top Communist official appointed by Beijing to handle the crisis said his team could not confirm the exact scale of the epidemic in the city, but warned the number of potential carriers could be 'quite large'.
The news comes as a British virologist warned the number of cases in China could be 10 to 25 times higher than the official statistics.
A top Communist official appointed by Beijing to handle the crisis said his team could not confirm the exact scale of the epidemic in Wuhan, but warned the number of potential carriers could be 'quite large'. In the picture, two people wearing face masks walk in Wuhan on Monday
The news comes as a British virologist warned the number of cases in China could be 10 to 25 times higher than the official statistics. The daily number of confirmed patients in Wuhan jumped more than 12 times yesterday while the daily death toll increased three times
The senior official called for 'a general offensive' towards the deadly disease, according to a
transcript of the conference released by the nation's Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission.
He demanded the city build more 'fang cang' or 'shelter' hospitals by converting public facilities including sports halls, exhibition centres and universities.
He also urged the city to award its 'warrior' and 'fighter' officials who have 'charged on the front line and shattered enemies' during the anti-coronavirus war.
Virologist Derek Gatherer from the University of Lancaster warned that the number of coronavirus patients in China could be 10 to 25 times higher than the official figures.
Prof Gatherer told
Sky News yesterday: 'The reason we can make this estimation is because we know the number of exported cases from China and we also know the number of people who have travelled out of China.'
Wuhan authorities announced on Monday that they had discovered 1,499 critically ill residents who were infected with the new coronavirus through door-to-door health checks.
China's Vice Premier last week ordered the city to move all confirmed and potential sufferers - as well as their close contacts - into quarantine camps in a bid to stop the spread of the disease.
However, official statistics from yesterday reveal that two emergency coronavirus hospitals which were built from scratch in 12 days were only treating half of the patients they were supposed to.
The Huoshenshan and Leishenshen hospitals were designed to have about 2,600 beds in total, but as of yesterday there were only a combined 1,136 sufferers receiving medical attention there.
China's Communist Party today replaced the party heads in the coronavirus-stricken province of Hubei and its capital Wuhan as critics blast the local government's handling of the health crisis.
The removal of Jiang Chaoliang, the leading Communist Party official of Hubei province, and Ma Guoqiang, his counterpart in Wuhan, follows the dismissal of two provincial health officials on Tuesday, and is part of a wider effort by Beijing to remove bureaucrats it accuses of shirking their duties.