BEIJING (Reuters) – Wuhan, the epicenter of China’s coronavirus epidemic, will likely see new infections drop to zero by the end of this month, an expert with the country’s top panel on battling the illness said on Thursday, even as the city reported a quicker rise in new confirmed cases.
Medical workers wearing face masks jump rope as they take a break outside the hotel where they stay, in Wuhan, the epicentre of the novel coronavirus outbreak, Hubei province, China March 5, 2020. China Daily via REUTERS
Mainland China had 139 new confirmed cases as of Wednesday, the National Health Commission (NHC) said, bringing the total accumulated number of cases to 80,409. Authorities reported 119 new cases the previous day and 125 the day before that.
The increase reversed three straight days of declines, and was driven by a rise in new infections in Wuhan, the city where the virus is believed to have emerged in a seafood market late last year.
Zhang Boli said almost all regions outside Hubei province, where Wuhan is the capital, had managed to halt new infections by end of last month, according to an interview with the official People’s Daily.
He estimated other cities in Hubei will hit such a target by mid-March, based on data on how the outbreak has evolved, but did not give details.
New infections in Wuhan climbed to 131 from 114 a day earlier. There was no immediate elaboration.
After what some critics said was an initially hesitant response to the new virus, China imposed sweeping restrictions to try to stop it, including transport suspensions, lockdowns of cities and extending a Lunar New Year holiday across the country.
World Health Organization (WHO) officials have said other countries have much to learn from the way China has handled the outbreak. Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu said many countries had asked for help and China was responding.
The number of new confirmed cases in Hubei, excluding Wuhan, has remained in single digits for seven consecutive days, with three new infections recorded on Wednesday.
In the rest of mainland China, outside Hubei, there were only five new confirmed cases, the health commission said.
The death toll from the outbreak in mainland China had reached 3,012 as of the end of Wednesday, up by 31 from the previous day. Hubei accounted for all of the new deaths, including 23 in Wuhan.
Chinese authorities have turned their attention to stopping the virus being brought in from new coronavirus hot spots abroad.
FOCUS ON INFECTIONS FROM ABROAD
The number of new infections overseas now exceeds the tally of new cases in China, with Italy, South Korea and Iran in particular seeing worrying spreads of the virus.
Authorities have asked overseas Chinese hoping to return home to reconsider their travel plans, while cities across the country have set up quarantine rules for those entering from high-risk places.
An infected person is known to have arrived in China from Iran last week.
The cities of Shanghai and Guangdong have ordered people who have been in countries with severe outbreaks within the previous two weeks to stay in quarantine for 14 days.
The city of Chengdu in central Sichuan province said it was also ordering quarantine for such people.
The NHC has said authorities are transitioning from “overall containment to targeted containment” measures, with a focus on containment within communities, and medical treatment.
Ma told a briefing China would make donations to South Korea, Iraq, Cambodia and Sri Lanka, on top of what it has already given to Pakistan, Japan and Iran.
He said China was also considering responding to a WHO call for donations, he said.
Reporting by Ryan Woo, Yilei Sun, Yew Lun Tian, Gao Liangping, Brenda Goh and Yawen Chen; Editing by Gerry Doyle, Robert Birsel and Frances Kerry