China's new outbreak shows signs that coronavirus could be changing. Brazil records its worst daily death toll from coronavirus

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Chinese doctors are seeing the coronavirus manifest differently among patients in its new cluster of cases in the northeast region compared to the original outbreak in Wuhan, suggesting that the pathogen may be changing in unknown ways and complicating efforts to stamp it out.

Patients found in the northern provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang appear to carry the virus for a longer period of time and take longer to test negative, Qiu Haibo, one of China’s top critical care doctors, told state television on Tuesday.

Patients in the northeast also appear to be taking longer than the one to two weeks observed in Wuhan to develop symptoms after infection, and this delayed onset is making it harder for authorities to catch cases before they spread, said Qiu, who is now in the northern region treating patients.

“The longer period during which infected patients show no symptoms has created clusters of family infections,” said Qiu, who was earlier sent to Wuhan to help in the original outbreak. Some 46 cases have been reported over the past two weeks spread across three cities — Shulan, Jilin city and Shengyang — in two provinces, a resurgence of infection that sparked renewed lockdown measures over a region of 100 million people.

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Brazil has recorded its highest daily number of coronavirus deaths and cases, one day after it became the country with the third-highest number of confirmed cases in the world.

The Latin American country confirmed a record of 1,179 deaths and 17,408 new infections on Tuesday, its health ministry announced Tuesday, raising overall deaths since the start of the outbreak to 17,971, and 271,628 cases.

Sao Paulo state alone reported a record number of deaths on Tuesday, with 324 deaths in the past 24 hours.

When asked about Brazil's skyrocketing numbers, US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he was mulling on a travel ban on Brazil.

"We are considering it," Trump said, adding: "We hope that we're not going to have a problem. The governor of Florida is doing very, very well testing -- in particular Florida, because a big majority come in to Florida. Brazil has gone more or less herd, and they're having problems.

"I worry about everything, I don't want people coming in here and infecting our people," Trump said, "I don't want people over there sick either."

Health system on the brink
Brazil's alarming numbers come days after Sao Paulo's mayor warned that its health system could be overwhelmed very soon if residents don't follow social distancing guidelines. Officials in the major city of 12 million have declared a five-day holiday in a bid to get residents to stay home.