February 14, 2020

Daily reports of confirmed novel coronavirus pneumonia cases in Hubei, the epicenter of the outbreak, plunged on Thursday following a dramatic surge the previous day. Experts believe the shift was due to the local government's adoption of a new method to diagnose the COVID-19, which allowed hospitals to clear a backlog of suspected cases.

But the drop does not indicate an optimistic situation in Hubei as some netizens expected. Hubei still faces critical challenges with a large number of patients and pressure to prevent and control the virus, experts said. 

Hubei reported 4,823 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases on Thursday, including 3,095 clinically diagnosed cases, a sudden plunge from the previous day's total of 14,840 new cases including 13,332 clinically diagnosed cases. 

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