Shanghai
China on Saturday recorded no new confirmed cases of coronavirus for the first time since the pandemic began in the central city of Wuhan late last year.
The National Health Commission (NHC) said in a statement on Saturday that this compared to four new cases on the previous day. It said, however, there were two new suspected cases: an imported one in Shanghai and locally transmitted case in the northeastern province of Jilin.
New asymptomatic cases of the coronavirus fell to 28 from 35 a day earlier, the NHC said. China has seen a sharp fall in locally transmitted cases since March as major restrictions on people movement helped it to take control of the epidemic in many parts of the country.
However, it has continued to see an influx of imported cases, mainly involving Chinese nationals returning from abroad, while new clusters of infections in the northeastern border provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang have emerged in recent weeks.
Wuhan also reported this month its first cluster of infections since a lockdown on the city ended on April 8, prompting authorities to warn that counter-epidemic measures could not be relaxed and to launch a campaign to test all of Wuhan’s 11 million residents for COVID-19.
The number of confirmed cases in the mainland stood at 82,971 and the death toll remained unchanged at 4,634.
South Korea reported 23 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, mostly from the densely populated Seoul area where authorities shut down thousands of nightclubs, bars and karaoke rooms to stem transmissions.
Meanwhile, China, where the pandemic began late last year, reported no new confirmed cases for the first time since it began announcing infections in January.
South Korea has now confirmed 11,165 cases, including 266 deaths from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. Thirteen of the new cases came from Gyeonggi province surrounding Seoul, which on Saturday ordered the closure of an additional 2,629 bars and karaoke rooms, bringing the number of shut entertainment venues to 8,363.
South Korea was reporting around 500 new cases a day in early March before using aggressive tracing and testing to stabilize its outbreak. But there’s growing concern over the steady rise of infections in the greater capital area, where about half of South Korea’s 51 million people live. It came after health authorities relaxed social distancing guidelines and allowed a phased reopening of schools, starting with high school seniors on Wednesday.
More than 200 of the recent infections have been linked to club-goers in the Seoul metropolitan area.
At least 1,204 cases have been traced to international arrivals, although such infections have slowed after the country strengthened border controls in April, enforcing two-week quarantines on all overseas passengers.—AFP
