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 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.
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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)
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