Drop in new China virus cases as toll reaches 2,345

This photo taken on February 20, 2020 shows two staff members crossing an empty road as they deliver vegetables to a hospital in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province. (AFP)

This photo taken on February 18, 2020 shows a doctor (R) who has recovered from the COVID-19 coronavirus infection donating plasma in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province. (AFP)

In this Friday, Feb. 21, 2020, photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, center, visits a medical supply company in Beijing. (AP)

The body temperature of an Iraqi woman returning from Iran is measured upon her arrival at the Najaf International Airport on February 21, 2020, after Iran announced cases of coronavirus infections in the Islamic republic. (AFP)

This Feb. 18, 2020, photo, shows an overview of the temporary hospital converted from an exhibition center in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province. (AP)

BEIJING: The death toll in China from the new coronavirus outbreak rose by 109, the National Health Commission said Saturday, bringing the total number of fatalities to 2,345.
Another 397 new cases were reported nationwide, down from nearly 900 officially reported Friday, bringing the total number of cases to over 76,000.
The drop in new cases of the novel coronavirus came as officials in Hubei province — whose capital city Wuhan is the epicenter the outbreak — were ordered to revise figures to clear “doubt” around the data.
The number of new cases nationwide for February 19 was revised up to 820 up from 394 previously reported, the National Health Commission said Saturday.
It also adjusted upwards the total confirmed cases for February 20 by over 400 cases to 75,891.
The decision to amend Hubei’s past data, which was announced on Friday by local authorities, is the latest in a string of changes made to Hubei’s counting method — further complicating efforts to track the spread of the illness.
Last week, Chinese health officials added patients from Hubei who had been diagnosed via clinical methods including lung imaging on top of those confirmed by lab tests.
But on Thursday, Hubei officials backtracked the decision and deducted 279 cases — which they were ordered to re-add to the count on Friday.