-
From CNN
What now counts as a confirmed case? The total will now include "clinically diagnosed cases" after rising numbers of residents complained about the difficulty in getting tested and treated for the virus.
Who falls into that category? "Clinically diagnosed cases" are those patients who demonstrate all the symptoms of the novel coronavirus but have been unable to be scientifically tested, or died before they were tested.
What effect will this have? The hope is that more people will be able to receive treatment by allowing doctors to diagnose them with the virus.
Case number confusion: The massive increase in the number of cases exposes confusion over just how to diagnose the virus globally.
Delayed diagnosis: Delays in diagnosing the virus could be significant. There are reports of patients waiting up to a week for their results, as the testing kits were sent from Hubei to a lab in Beijing. While there have been efforts to speed up the process, scientific testing of samples is difficult and time consuming, and allowing doctors to diagnose patients will enable far more people to receive treatment, including in several purpose-built hospitals dedicated to treating the virus in Wuhan.
Not just China: In the US, the CDC currently requires that all potential samples are shipped to its central laboratories for full testing.
You are reading a single comment by @Stonehedge and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
Stonehedge
Impossible to say, and importantly the definition of a related death has become vaguer, not more defined:
" includes those showing symptoms, and having a CT scan showing an infected lungs"
Trying to find firsthand source rather than BBC for the above.