Beijing - Mainland China reported a rise
in new confirmed cases of coronavirus on Thursday, reversing
three straight days of declines, because of a spike in new
infections in Wuhan, the city at the centre of the outbreak.
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 was driven by more cases in Wuhan, the
provincial capital of Hubei, where the virus is believed to have
emerged in a market late last year.
Wuhan's new infections climbed to 131 from 114 a day
earlier. There was no immediate elaboration and health officials
were due to hold a briefing later in the day.
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 and 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. In
Wuhan, 23 people died.
With the downward trend in new cases, Chinese authorities
have turned their attention to stopping the virus being brought
in from new coronavirus hot spots abroad.
'REPAY KINDNESS'
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, one of the virus' new hot spots, 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 were 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.
China was also considering responding to WHO call for
donations, he said.
"Many of the countries which have requested for our help had
actually helped us previously, so when we help these countries,
it is to help them fight the virus, and also to repay their
kindness," Ma said.