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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 the 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.
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.
In another sign things are starting to return to normal, Chibi, a
small city just south of Wuhan, said it will remove road blocks and
restore normal traffic within its jurisdiction by Friday morning,
partly to facilitate spring ploughing.
Chibi would be among the first cities in Hubei to loosen traffic
curbs on travel within city boundaries. Located on Hubei's southern
border with Hunan, Chibi has reported no new cases of infections for
19 days as of March 4.
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However, traffic between Chibi and other counties and provinces remains
forbidden, the official Hubei Daily said, citing a notice issued by Chibi
epidemic control authorities.
FOCUS ON INFECTIONS FROM ABROAD
Chinese authorities have turned their attention to stopping the virus being
brought in from new hot spots 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. The U.S. death toll rose to 11 as new cases emerged around New York
City and Los Angeles.
Hu Xijin, the editor of the widely-read Chinese state-backed tabloid the Global
Times, wrote on Twitter that President Donald Trump administration's attempts
"to downplay the epidemic is disturbing".
"I have called on Chinese local governments to implement 14-day quarantine for
all people coming from the U.S.," he wrote.
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.
(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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