Beijing: China says it is now treating more than 1,000 people for COVID-19 as numbers of cases continue to surge in the country's north.
The National Health Commission on Friday said 1,001 patients were under care for the disease, 26 of them in serious condition, and that 144 total new cases had been recorded over the past 24 hours.
The province of Hebei, just outside Beijing, accounted for 90 of the new cases, while Heilongjiang province further north reported 43 new
cases.
Nine cases were brought from outside the country, while local transmissions also occurred in the southern Guangxi region and the northern province of Shaanxi, illustrating the virus' ability to move through the vast country of 1.4 billion people despite quarantines, travel restrictions and electronic monitoring of citizens.
While there have been no reports of hospital bed shortages, Hebei has begun constructing a new quarantine center outside the provincial capital of Shijiazhuang in anticipation of the need to monitor more possible
cases.
Shijiazhuang has accounted for the bulk of cases in the province since the new year, and has been placed under virtual lockdown along with the cities of Xingtai and Langfang, a move largely confining more than 20 million people to their homes for coming
days.
In all, China has reported 87,988 cases with 4,635 deaths.
Meanwhile, a city in northern China is building a 3,000-unit quarantine facility to deal with an anticipated overflow of patients as COVID-19 cases rise ahead of the Lunar New Year travel rush.
State media on Friday showed crews leveling earth, pouring concrete and assembling pre-fabricated rooms in farmland outside Shijiazhuang, the provincial capital of Hebei province that has seen the bulk of new cases.