China completed a five-day construction project in a 1,500-room hospital on Saturday, while groups of COVID-19 spread across Beijing and neighboring provinces.
The situation: The facility is one of six hospitals with a total of 6,500 operating rooms in Nangong, the Xinhua news agency said on Saturday in an AP report. All are due to be completed next week.
By the numbers: China hit a 10-month high for COVID cases and on Friday reported 168 cases.
- Yes but: The numbers remain well below the levels of infection the country saw last February, when China reached a record of approximately 15,000 daily cases.
- The country 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 – the site of the original coronavirus outbreak – is underreporting its cases.
What they are saying: The Chinese government attributed the increase to food imports and travelers visiting the country.
- The new cases “are all imported from abroad. It was caused by incoming personnel or products imported from the contaminated cold chain,” the National Health Commission said in a statement, by AP.
The big picture: WHO agreed last May on a call from more than 110 countries to lead an independent review of the global response to the coronavirus, after China supported the action after the clashes with Australia, which had previously advocated a comprehensive investigation.
Go deeper … Timeline: The first days of the coronavirus outbreak in China and cover-up