BEIJING, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Beijing on Friday published the number of patients suspected to be infected with the novel coronavirus for the first time.
As of Thursday, Beijing reported 157 suspected cases and 297 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection, said Gao Xiaojun, spokesperson for the Beijing Municipal Health Commission, at a press conference.
Among the 297 confirmed cases, 147 are males and 150 are females, accounting for 49.5 percent and 50.5 percent of the total number of patients, respectively. Their ages range from nine months to 94 years old, with 11 cases under five years old.
To help curb the spread of the epidemic, Beijing also revealed the residential communities where the patients newly confirmed to be infected with the novel coronavirus live or places they had been.
As of Friday, a cluster of 15 novel coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the Fuxing Hospital of the Capital Medical University in Beijing, according to the press conference.
The 15 confirmed cases, including six medical workers, five hospitalized patients and four nurses in the ICU of the department of cardiology in the hospital's Muxidi branch, have been sent to designated hospitals for treatment, said Sun Shuo, director of Xicheng District of Beijing, where the hospital is located.
A total of 172 close contacts have been traced and isolated for observation, Sun added.
According to a press conference on Monday, a cluster of nine novel coronavirus cases had been confirmed in the hospital.
An investigation showed that the outbreak of the cluster cases was caused by an individual who had been infected with the novel coronavirus from outside and then spread the virus to others in the hospital, said Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
So far, the inpatient building where the patients were confirmed to be infected with the novel coronavirus has been isolated as a whole. The outpatient department of the hospital, located in the hospital's other site, which has not been affected, is accepting patients as usual.
