Coronavirus: China reports zero new domestic virus cases for first time

A spike in imported cases threatens China's progress.

Medical staff push a patient on a gurney to a waiting medical helicopter at the Emile Muller hospital in Mulhouse, eastern France. AFP

An Indian man shows his stamped hand, indicating that the person is under 'home quarantine', in Mumbai, India. EPA

Judie Shape, centre, who has tested positive for the coronavirus, but isn't showing symptoms, presses her hand against her window after a visit through the window and on the phone with her daughter Lori Spencer, left, and her son-in-law Michael Spencer, at the Life Care Center in Kirkland. AP Photo

A single worshipper wearing a surgical mask sits on a pew in Westminster Cathedral in central London. AFP

People confined at their homes sing and dance from their windows to bolster themselves up during a lockdown in Madrid. AFP

A person walks on the deserted Passerelle du Palais de Justice in Lyon, central eastern France as a strict lockdown comes into in effect. AFP

Soldiers stand guard on road leading to a quarantine faciltity for people returning from Iran via the Pakistan-Iran border town of Taftan, in Sukkur in southern Sindh province. AFP

A passenger wearing protective clothing uses a self check-in machine at Incheon international airport, west of Seoul. AFP

Workers cheer themselves after loading travellers onto buses outside the New China International Exhibition Centre, near Beijing Capital Airport in Beijing. AFP

A nurse wearing a facemask walks outside the entrance of Sri Lanka's Infectious Diseases Hospital near Colombo. AFP

People queue for groceries at a supermarket in Singapore. AFP

A medical worker tests a person for the coronavirus at a drive-through facility primarily for first responders and medical personnel in San Antonio. AP Photo

A robot, developed by a start-up firm Asimov Robotics, holds a tray with face masks and sanitiser after the two robots were launched to spread awareness about the coronavirus, in Kochi, India, March 17, 2020. Reuters

China on Thursday marked a major milestone in its battle against the coronavirus pandemic as it recorded zero domestic infections for the first time since the outbreak emerged, but a spike in imported cases threatened its progress.

The stark reversal comes as nations across the world have shut down in a desperate effort to contain the pandemic, with more people now infected and having died abroad than in China.

There were no new cases in Wuhan, the city where the virus first emerged in December, for the first time since authorities started publishing figures in January, according to China's National Health Commission.

But there were eight more deaths in China, all in Hubei, raising the nationwide total to 3,245, according to the commission.

There have been nearly 81,000 infections in China but only 7,263 people remain sick with the Covid-19 disease.

Meanwhile, the global number of cases has shot past 200,000, with more than 8,700 deaths.

Wuhan and its 11 million people were placed under strict quarantine on January 23, with more than 40 million other people in the rest of Hubei province entering lockdown in the following days.

China enacted strict measures nationwide to limit public gatherings.

On March 10, President Xi Jinping visited Wuhan for the first time since the outbreak began and declared that the spread of the disease was "basically curbed."

On the same day, Hubei officials allowed people to travel within the province for the first time since January, excluding Wuhan.

On Wednesday, Hubei authorities announced they were partially opening its borders to allow healthy people from low-risk areas to leave the province if they have jobs or residences elsewhere. This also excludes Wuhan.

Life has slowly started to return to normal in the rest of the country, with people back at work, factories up and running, and schools in some regions resuming or preparing to go back to class.

But there is concern about a second wave of infections due to an influx of cases from abroad, with an average of 20,000 people flying into China every day.

Beijing and other regions are now requiring most international arrivals to go into 14-day quarantine in designated hotels.

The National Health Commission said there were 34 more cases brought in from abroad, the biggest daily increase in two weeks, with 189 in total now.

"We should never allow the hard-won and continuous positive trend to be reversed," Xi said at a Communist Party leadership meeting on Wednesday.

There have been questions about China's official figures, as authorities changed its methodology to count infections, and the government has endured rare public criticism of its handling of the health emergency.

Local officials initially attempted to cover up the outbreak, with police silencing doctors who had raised the alarm about the emergence of the new virus as early as December.

One of the whistleblowers, Wuhan ophthalmologist Li Wenliang, died from the virus himself in February, sparking an outpouring of grief and anger on social media.

The first case emerged in Wuhan on December 1, according to Chinese researchers, but it was not until January 9 the country confirmed a "new type of coronavirus."