Only 19 new cases in China but WHO remains concerned about global situation

China's National Health Commission said on Tuesday (March 10) that of the total, 17 were Wuhan residents, one was in Beijing and one in Guangdong had returned from Britain.
The total number of confirmed cases in mainland China is now 80,754. Since the outbreak, 59,897 patients have been discharged from hospitals in China. Patients discharged recently need to go into quarantine for 14 days as a precautionary measure.
The spread of the virus dropped in the country in the past week while Chinese authorities are on alert for risks from foreigners and those returning from new high-risk areas such as Iran and Italy.
In Wuhan, 12 of the 14 temporary hospitals dedicated to treating Covid-19 patients have closed, with the remaining two due to shut on Tuesday.
Even as the situation in China was getting better, the World Health Organization (WHO) remained concerned about a Covid-19 pandemic.
"Now that the coronavirus has a foothold in so many countries, the threat of a pandemic has become very real," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday. "It would be the first pandemic in history that could be controlled,” he added.
There are more than 100,000 confirmed cases globally with 100 countries reporting infections.