The peak of the novel coronavirus outbreak has passed, China’s national health authorities said on Thursday, hours after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the contagion a pandemic.
The situation in China, where the virus originated, has improved remarkably with a steady decline in new cases. The number of new cases has dropped to a single digit in ground zero – the city of Wuhan.
“China has passed the climax of the novel coronavirus outbreak with the number of new infections continuing to decline,” Mi Feng, spokesperson of the national health commission (NHC), said at a press conference in Beijing.
The announcement came two days after President Xi Jinping visited Wuhan for the first time since the outbreak began, signalling that the situation has turned a corner in China.
Until weeks ago, China was reporting hundreds of new cases of the infection daily. The central Chinese province of Hubei, worst-hit by the outbreak that began in late December, had just eight new cases in the last 24 hours – all of them in Wuhan.
Only seven new cases were reported on the Chinese mainland outside Hubei; six of them were ‘imported’ from abroad.
Overall, 15 new Covid-19 infections and 11 new deaths were reported on Wednesday on the Chinese mainland. The total number of infections stood at 80,793, with 3,169 deaths.
With six new cases reported on Wednesday, the total number of ‘imported’ cases in China reached 85, with 46 coming from Iran and 27 from Italy.
Wuhan could clear all infected cases to zero by the end of March if all efforts being implemented continue uninterrupted, and there are no emergencies over infections coming in from overseas, leading epidemiologist Li Lanjuan has said.
NHC spokesperson Mi said China had taken the most comprehensive prevention and control measures to contain the outbreak. Wuhan was put under a lockdown on January 23, and across Hubei, millions faced restrictions. As the restrictions are likely to be lifted in a staggered manner, the Chinese government’s focus will now be on reviving the economy.
