7:30 pm: China's XI says country must fix loopholes exposed during coronavirus outbreak

Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged the ruling Communist Party to repair loopholes and weaknesses exposed during the fast-spreading coronavirus outbreak, Reuters reported on Friday, citing state television.

His reported comments come shortly after China's National Health Commission reported an additional 121 deaths nationwide, with 5,090 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus.

The flu-like virus was found to have killed a total of 1,380 people in mainland China as of Thursday evening after the health commission said it had removed 108 deaths from the total figure due to a double-count in Hubei province — the epicenter of the global coronavirus outbreak.

It is the second day in a row that the province's data changes have caused significant changes to a nationwide figure, fueling doubts many have about their accuracy. (See 1:15 p.m. update).

The White House does "not have high confidence in the information coming out of China," a senior U.S. administration official told CNBC on Thursday.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/14/coronavirus-latest-updates-chinas-hubei.html [cnbc]

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