China’s former virus epicentre Wuhan, and its surrounding province, has reported no new cases of the deadly coronavirus in a dramatic development in the city overwhelmed by thousands of new patients each day when the outbreak was peaking there last month.
China’s health ministry said on Thursday all 34 of its new cases were in people arriving from abroad. Eight new deaths were reported, all in Wuhan, where the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in December and which remains under the quarantine control measures imposed weeks ago to stop its spread.
The virus has since infected more than 217,000 people worldwide and killed over 8,700, mostly in China, Italy and Iran.
The United Nations has now warned that the crisis could lead to the loss of nearly 25 million jobs around the world.
Though China still has the largest number of cases, most of its patients have recovered. China even sent medical supplies to hard-hit France, returning a favour done by the French weeks ago.
But in a grim illustration of the pandemic’s shift, deaths in Italy are nearing China’s toll. Italy had more than 2,900 dead after a record one-day total of 475. China’s overall toll was around 3,200.
