'Peak of the epidemic has passed' - China declares
China's National Health Commission confirmed that the country has passed the peak of the Covid-19 epidemic as the number of new nCoV infections is decreasing rapidly.
"The peak of the epidemic has generally passed in China. The number of new infections is decreasing sharply," said Mi Feng, spokesman for the National Health Commission of China (NHC).
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Doctors clean a makeshift hospital in Wuhan on March 10 after all patients were discharged. Photo:AFP. |
The announcement came as Hubei province reported just eight new cases today, marking the lowest 24-hour increase in nearly two months. A top Chinese health expert predicted that Wuhan, the epicenter of the Covid-19 outbreak, could have no new cases by the end of March.
This has allowed the Chinese government to ease its epidemic control measures, allowing many businesses to resume operations. However, the People's Daily warned that the situation in Hubei remains very difficult and the risk of a resurgence of the epidemic remains.
The Hubei government imposed a lockdown on January 23 to combat the spread of Covid-19, severely affecting the economy based on manufacturing and trade, with the capital Wuhan contributing heavily thanks to the auto industry.
The rate of nCoV infection in the world is still increasing rapidly, but has been slowing down in China over the past week. The NHC recorded 15 new cases of nCoV infection today, down slightly from 24 cases on March 11, of which 6 cases were from outside China. Nearly 81,000 people in this country have been infected with nCoV, more than 3,100 have died and more than 63,000 have recovered.
124 countries and territories have recorded Covid-19 with more than 126,000 infections and more than 4,600 deaths. The World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday declared Covid-19 a pandemic and called on countries to respond decisively.