2月15日早间英语播报：Infection total surges within expectations

Doctor Wen Yongsheng (left) and driver Yang Bo stand by their ambulance in Chongqing. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Large rise in province's cases due to revised diagnosis criterion, experts say

The sudden spike in newly confirmed cases of novel coronavirus pneumonia in Hubei province on Wednesday is due to a revised diagnosis criterion, and experts said the change, which is within expectations, can enable more people to obtain appropriate medical treatment.

As of Thursday morning, Hubei reported 14,840 additional confirmed cases, the highest daily increase so far, Hubei Provincial Health Commission reported on Thursday.

Of these newly confirmed cases, 13,332 were clinically diagnosed, meaning suspected patients were identified as having the disease based on symptoms, medical history, and computerized tomography, or CT scans, rather than testing positive for the virus using lab kits, which accounted for 1,508 of the new cases.

The surge in Hubei pushed the new infections nationwide on Thursday morning to 15,152. Among the newly added 254 deaths, 242 were in Hubei, said Mi Feng, a spokesman for the National Health Commission, on Thursday.

On Thursday morning, there were 52,526 confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland, he said.

The sudden increase is due to a revised diagnostic criterion, according to the Hubei health authorities.

On Feb 3, the National Health Commission released the fifth edition of the diagnosis and treatment plan. It required Hubei to count clinically diagnosed patients as newly confirmed cases so that more suspected patients can receive the same standard of treatment as confirmed ones, thus reducing the possible spread of the virus and improving the treatment success rate.

On Tuesday, the provincial health commission released the first figure for clinically diagnosed cases, which was 10,567 as of late Monday night, but it wasn't added to the newly confirmed cases that day.

The commission said the two numbers were combined as required by the prevention plan starting on Thursday, yielding the sudden jump in number of new confirmed cases.

By doing so, the total number of suspected patients in Hubei has also dropped significantly over the last few days, decreasing from 16,687 on Feb 10 to 11,295 on Feb 11 and to 9,028 on Feb 12.

World Health Organization officials also said on Thursday that a jump in the number of new cases of coronavirus in China reflects a "broader definition" of infection.

"It is our current understanding that the new case definition widens the net, and includes not only lab-confirmed cases but also clinically diagnosed cases based on symptoms and exposure," WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told Reuters.

Zeng Guang, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told Global Times that the increase is within expectation and the change in diagnosis standards tightens a loophole in the spread of the virus.

He said there are instances where suspected patients have shown typical symptoms of the disease, but they couldn't be listed and treated like confirmed patients because their test results for the virus were not conclusive.

The commonly used diagnostic method requires doctors to take viral samples from the patient's throat or nostrils. This approach is convenient but produces less accurate results than the more time-consuming method of sampling from the lung, where there is a higher density of coronavirus.

Coupled with a limited supply of test kits and manpower for the tests, some doctors have relied on clinical observations to increase diagnostic efficiency, Feng Zhanchun, a professor at Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, Hubei province, told local media on Thursday.

One of the key criteria is to search for signs of pneumonia with CT scans, he said. The combined diagnostic methods will reduce the waiting time for patients to be confirmed and treated, which is instrumental in containing the outbreak.

However, some epidemiologists have pointed out that changing statistical methodology and diagnosis standards may interfere with previous predictions and analytical models. Medical staff and resources may also be stretched thin due to a huge influx of new patients, they added.

Grim situation

Compared with the rest of the nation, the epidemic in Wuhan has not yet been controlled, and many challenges and unanswered questions remain, said Chen Yi xin, the deputy head of a central government group to guide epidemic control work in Hubei.

These challenges include lackluster response, combating misinformation, as well as evaluating the total number of infected patients and tracking the spread of the infection, he said at a meeting on Wednesday.

The three priorities at the moment should be arresting the growth of new cases, reducing the total number of patients, and controlling unexpected variables, he said.

Patients shouldn't have to wait for beds, and all suspected and confirmed cases should be quarantined, diagnosed and treated in due time, he stressed.

On Thursday, Hubei also announced that factories in the province will not resume production until Feb 23, and new semesters have been postponed indefinitely through the entire education system.

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记者：张之豪

播报：Jocelyn Eikenburg

原文链接：

https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202002/14/WS5e45b108a310128217277689.html

【阅读背景】

别被这个骤增的数字吓坏了！目的是“应收尽收”

14840！

　　一大早，湖北卫健委公布的昨日湖北省新增新冠肺炎病例数吓到不少人。

　　这几日，湖北新增确诊病例数是这样的， 8日新增2147，9日新增2618，10日新增2097，11日新增1638，增长曲线看似已经有向下趋势，怎么就突然骤增？

　　其实，事情是这样的：

　　随着对新型冠状病毒肺炎认识的深入和诊疗经验的积累，针对湖北省疫情特点，国家卫生健康委办公厅、国家中医药管理局办公室印发的《新型冠状病毒感染的肺炎诊疗方案（试行第五版）》在湖北省的病例诊断分类中增加了“临床诊断”，以便患者能及早按照确诊病例接受规范治疗，进一步提高救治成功率。

　　根据该方案，近期湖北省对既往的疑似病例开展了排查并对诊断结果进行了订正，对新就诊患者按照新的诊断分类进行诊断。为与全国其他省份对外发布的病例诊断分类一致，从今天起，湖北省将临床诊断病例数纳入确诊病例数进行公布。

　　之前的诊疗方案，主要参考指标是核酸检测结果，还需要结合CT影像，咳嗽等症状综合判断。

　　但有个问题越来越突出：

　　由于核酸检测时间较慢，一些患者无法确诊收治，但临床表现又高度疑似新冠肺炎。如不改变认定标准，这些患者无法及时救治，传染链条也不能及时切断。

　　按照新的标准，一大批之前没有确诊的患者，现在都确诊了。昨日临床诊断病例13332例，若按照之前标准，14840例与之相减，应为1508例。

　　将临床诊断病例数纳入确诊病例统计，是实事求是、负责任的做法，既能加快患者收治，又能加大疫情防控力度，用更短时间切断传染链条。

　　我们查阅了湖北省卫健委2月8日以来公布的每日情况，发现了这样一个趋势。

　　可以看到，疑似病例在大幅度下降。这是好事，该确诊的加快确诊，疫情扩散传播渠道在快速扎紧。

　　中央指导组强调，要“病床等人”不能“病人等床”，确保“应收尽收”。要提振士气、凝聚民心，实行“三量管控”：控增量、减存量、防变量，坚决打好疫情防控阻击战。

　　具体怎么落实“把人民群众生命安全和身体健康放在第一位”？将临床诊断病例数纳入确诊病例很重要。（记者 刘阳）

中文来源：新华网

中文链接：

https://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2020-02/13/c_1125569200.htm