All Covid-19 patients in Wuhan now discharged
Focus shifts to north-eastern area bordering Russia, which has influx of imported cases
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Medical personnel wave to a coronavirus patient who was discharged from Leishenshan Hospital, in Wuhan, on March 1, 2020.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
SHANGHAI • The Chinese city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus pandemic began, now has no remaining cases in its hospitals, a health official told reporters yesterday, as the global death toll from the disease crossed 200,000.
The coronavirus is believed to have originated last December in a wet market in Wuhan, the capital of China's central Hubei province, before quickly spreading around the world, infecting more than 2.9 million people to date. The market also traded in wildlife.
"The latest news is that by April 26, the number of new coronavirus patients in Wuhan was at zero, thanks to the joint efforts of Wuhan and medical staff from around the country," National Health Commission spokesman Mi Feng said at a briefing.
The last patient in serious condition in Wuhan was declared cured of the disease last Friday, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
"It is a historic day," said Dr Shang You, a critical-care unit doctor in Wuhan. "We have been waiting for this day for so long."
As of the end of Saturday, Wuhan had reported a total of 50,333 confirmed cases and 3,869 deaths, according to Xinhua. The recovery rate was more than 92.3 per cent.
In the wider Hubei province, the number of existing Covid-19 cases being treated has dropped below 50 for the first time, according to Xinhua. No new cases have been reported in the province for more than 20 days.
Wuhan and the province of Hubei were put under a strict lockdown near the end of January, with roads sealed, train and air services cancelled and residents unable to move freely for more than two months.
The city is still testing residents regularly despite relaxing the restrictions as the number of new infection cases fell.
The focus has since shifted to the north-eastern border province of Heilongjiang, which has seen large numbers of imported coronavirus cases entering from Russia in recent days.
The influx of imported cases - mostly Chinese citizens returning home - as well as the rising number of domestic infections prompted the sacking and punishment of several officials.
New clusters of infections in the province forced officials to tighten restrictions on movement in the region last week, as the authorities sought to prevent a second wave of contagion.
In the provincial capital of Harbin, where two new coronavirus clusters have been linked to local hospitals, people and vehicles from outside the city are banned from entering residential zones, officials said last Wednesday. Anyone arriving from outside China or other virus hot spots in the country will be quarantined.
China's health authority earlier reported 11 new coronavirus cases on the mainland on Saturday, down from 12 the previous day, with no fatalities. Heilongjiang accounted for five of the new confirmed cases.
REUTERS, XINHUA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
