China changes rules for coronavirus count

For the second time in about a week, China has changed its criteria for confirming cases of the virus, making it increasingly difficult for public health experts to track the scale of the epidemic.

The government said today that it would now differentiate between cases that are “suspected” and “confirmed.” Cases would be considered confirmed only after genetic testing, a process that is difficult to conduct and whose results are often wrong.

If you’re feeling whiplash, you’re not the only one. “For an epidemiologist, it’s really frustrating when case definitions keep on changing,” one expert said.

Here are the latest updates and maps of where the virus has spread.

Impact: President Trump has commended President Xi Jinping’s handling of the crisis, but hard-liners within the Trump administration say Beijing can’t be trusted to disclose what it knows or properly handle the outbreak.