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 China had 40 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infections as of
Sunday, the National Health Commission said, down from 44 cases a
day earlier, and the lowest number since the health authority
started publishing nationwide data on Jan. 20.
Of the new cases, 36 were in Wuhan, the provincial capital of Hubei,
while the remaining four in Gansu province were imported from Iran.
Despite the positive news, Chen Yixin, secretary general of the
Communist Party's Politics and Law Commission, said no one should
let their guard down.
"We must stay cautious, not be blindly optimistic and must not have
war-weariness," Chen said.
"We should not reduce the vigilance against the epidemic and the
requirements of prevention and control."
The coronavirus emerged in the central province of Hubei late last
year. The new cases on Sunday brought the total accumulated number
of cases in mainland China to 80,735.
While the domestic spread of the virus has significantly slowed in
recent days, authorities are mindful of risks stemming from people -
foreigners and Chinese nationals - traveling back to China from new
hot spots abroad.
China's total number of imported cases hit 67 with the four Gansu
cases.
Zhong Nanshan, head of the National Health Commission's team
investigating the novel coronavirus outbreak, said it would persist
globally until at least June, media reported.
Shanghai stepped up airport screening over the weekend as worry
about imported infections from countries such as Italy and Iran
grew.
There is also concern about the tens of millions of migrant workers
returning to offices, malls and factories, triggering a new round of
infections.
Chen acknowledged that while the outbreak in Wuhan was improving,
control and prevention work was still arduous, according to a
statement posted on his commission's Wechat account on Monday.
Chen said epidemics may bring risks to social stability and
recommended that the government took precautions and made early
plans to ensure peace and stability.
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WUHAN AIRPORT EYES REOPENING
Meanwhile, public facilities are slowly getting back to normal.
Wuhan's Tianhe International Airport said in a statement it was preparing to
resume work, taking measures such as staff training, equipment maintenance and
security inspections. It did not give a date for the resumption of commercial
operations.
Walt Disney Co's Shanghai Disneyland said it would partly resume operations in a
first step of a phased reopening, though the main theme park would stay shut.
The resort has been closed since Jan. 25.
Trip.com, China's largest online travel firm, said in an internal letter its
senior executives were taking a pay cut of up to half their salaries, while
chief executive Jane Sun and Chairman James Liang would stop taking salaries
from March, to help the company weather the impact of the outbreak.
As of Sunday, 58,600 patients had been discharged from Chinese hospitals.
Authorities are aware of the potential for re-infection and have told recently
discharged patients to go into quarantine for 14 days.
On Saturday, a small hotel used to quarantine people under observation in Fujian
province collapsed, killing 11.Of the 71 people inside the hotel in Quangzhou
city at the time of the collapse, 58 were in under quarantine, the Quangzhou
city government said.
The death toll from the outbreak in mainland China reached 3,119 as of the end
of Sunday, up 22 from the previous day.
Hubei, the center of the outbreak, reported 21 new deaths. In Wuhan city, 18
people died.
Total deaths outside of mainland China have surpassed 500, with most in Italy
and Iran. Cases are increasing in other countries, including the United States.
(Reporting by Ryan Woo, Sophie Yu, Lusha Zhang, Brenda Goh, Pei Li and Emily
Chow; Editing by Michael Perry, Robert Birsel)
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