Coronavirus: China cases drop as Wuhan lockdown set to end

The twin milestones illustrate the progress Beijing says it has made in its battle against the pandemic

People wearing protective face masks walk at a shopping area in Wuhan, China, April 6, 2020. EPA

China yesterday reported no new Covid-19 deaths for the first time since it started publishing figures in January, a day before it plans to lift travel curbs from Wuhan, where the disease was first reported.

The twin milestones illustrate the progress China says it has made in its all-consuming battle against the contagion, which originated in Wuhan and spread throughout the country and the world.

But the announcement comes as suspicions linger that the ruling Communist Party government – already accused of bungling the initial response to the outbreak – continues to intentionally under-report the real number of deaths and infections.

China denies the suggestion.

Beijing imposed an unprecedented lockdown on tens of millions of people in Wuhan and the rest of Hubei province in late January in a bid to smother the virus, and the number of new domestic infections has dwindled for weeks.

Total infections in mainland China stood at 81,740 on Monday with 3,331 deaths, the National Health Commission said. It reported 30 new asymptomatic cases, nine involving incoming travellers. Of the new asymptomatic cases, 18 were in Hubei.

By the end of Monday, 1,033 asymptomatic patients were under medical observation.

Arrivals from abroad made up all 32 of the new cases with symptoms, down from 38 a day earlier. Total imported infections stand at 983, the commission said.

China faces the “dual risks” of imported infections and domestic cluster outbreaks, a commission representative said at a briefing on Tuesday.

The north-east province of Heilongjiang reported 20 new cases, all in Chinese citizens returning from neighbouring Russia. It had reported 20 new infections on Sunday, all also cases imported from Russia.

On Tuesday, the Chinese consulate in the Russian city of Vladivostok near the border with China said it strongly reminded Chinese nationals not to return home through the border port of Suifenhe, which is to be closed to all arrivals from Tuesday.

China shut its borders to foreigners as the virus spread globally.

The number of inbound travellers through airports is fewer than 3,000 a day, down from about 25,000 in late March, before China slashed the number of international flights.

It also started testing all international arrivals for the virus this month.

Those who try to hide their travel history or health condition face a fine of up to 30,000 yuan (Dh15,626) or even criminal proceedings, the government said on Monday.

It said such people would be placed on a customs “blacklist” of travellers who would be subject to tighter checks in future.

Another possible source of infection is the 1.6 million Chinese citizens who study abroad, many of whom have struggled to return home since international flights were reduced.

Charter flights are being arranged to bring home Chinese students in the United States, starting with the youngest, Beijing’s embassy in Washington said.

The Chinese ambassador, Cui Tiankai, noted in the New York Times on Monday there had been "unpleasant talk" between the two countries about the virus. "But this is not the time for finger-pointing. This is a time for solidarity, collaboration and mutual support," Cui wrote.

New Covid-19 cases were also dropping in the European hotspots of Italy and Spain. In France, although daily deaths spiked to a record of 833, the rate of new admissions to intensive care has slowed dramatically.

Denmark said it planned to reopen schools next week for pupils aged up to 11 – a development that feels impossibly distant elsewhere in the world.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte promised residents they would soon “reap the fruit of these sacrifices” in personal liberties, though he declined to say when a nationwide lockdown would be lifted. Italy has the world’s highest death toll – more than 16,500 – but intensive care units in the north no longer fly patients to other regions.

Worldwide, more than 1.3 million people are confirmed to have been infected and nearly 75,000 have died, Johns Hopkins University reported. The true numbers are certainly much higher, because of limited testing, different ways nations count the dead and deliberate underreporting by some governments. Deaths in the US neared 11,000, with more than 368,000 confirmed infections.