China's early-season rice yield stood at around 28.17 billion kilograms this year, exceeding the threshold of 28 billion kilograms for four consecutive years, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Friday.
The output dropped by 0.6 percent year on year, primarily due to heavy rain and flooding in the country's leading grain-producing regions since April, the NBS explained.
The NBS also noted that the sown areas for China's early-season rice remained largely stable. The early-season rice planting area nationwide was 71.322 million mu (around 4.75 million hectares) this year, up 0.5 percent compared to the previous year.
China's early rice output exceeds threshold of 28 billion kgs for four consecutive years
The death toll from the ongoing Ebola outbreak in Africa surpassed 1,000 on Wednesday, according to the latest figures released by health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda.
The DRC Ministry of Health said in its latest situation report released on Wednesday that the country had recorded 2,473 confirmed Ebola cases, including 999 deaths, as of Monday.
Uganda has reported 20 confirmed cases, including two deaths, bringing the combined death toll in the two affected countries to 1,001.
The outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo virus, was declared on May 15 in Ituri Province in eastern DRC before spreading to the provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu, Haut-Uele and Tshopo.
On May 17, the World Health Organization determined that the Ebola outbreak in the DRC and Uganda constitutes a "public health emergency of international concern."
According to the DRC Ministry of Health, 737 patients were in isolation or receiving hospital treatment as of Monday, while 482 had recovered.
Speaking at a press conference in Geneva on July 16, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the outbreak became the third-largest Ebola outbreak on record, and in the past month, it has expanded faster than any previous outbreak.
The current outbreak is the DRC's 17th since the Ebola virus was first identified in the country in 1976.
Tedros also said Uganda's last confirmed Ebola patient was discharged on July 16, starting the mandatory 42-day countdown to the end of that country's outbreak.
According to the WHO, a country can declare an Ebola outbreak over after 42 consecutive days without a new confirmed case following the date on which the last confirmed patient is no longer capable of transmitting the virus. This occurs when the patient either recovers, tests negative and is discharged, or dies. If no new infections are confirmed during the 42-day period, the outbreak is officially declared over.
Ebola death toll in Africa outbreak surpasses 1,000
