No new Covid-19 cases in China, first time since outbreak began

There were no new confirmed Covid-19 cases in China yesterday, marking the first time it has seen no daily rise since the pandemic began in the city of Wuhan in late 2019.

China’s National Health Commission said in a statement today that this compared to 4 new cases Thursday. It warned, however, that there are 2 new suspected cases: an imported one in Shanghai and a locally transmitted case in the northeastern province of Jilin.

A spokeman for the NHC says asymptomatic cases of the coronavirus fell to 28 from 35 a day earlier.

The country has seen a sharp fall in locally transmitted cases since March, as major restrictions on public movement helped it take control of the epidemic in many parts of the country.

However, it has continued to see an influx of imported cases, mainly involving Chinese returnees from abroad, and new clusters of infections in the northeastern border provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang have arisen in recent weeks.

Wuhan also reported its first cluster of infections since a complete lockdown on the city ended on April 8, prompting officials to warn that measures to fight the epidemic must not be relaxed and to launch a campaign to test all of Wuhan’s 11 million residents.

The number of confirmed cases in the mainland stood at 82,971 yesterday and the death toll remained unchanged at 4,634.

Globally cases stand at 5,207,911, and deaths at 334,848.

SOURCE: Reuters