Mainland reports zero new local COVID-19 cases

The National Health Commission said it received reports of 39 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on the mainland Thursday, all of which were imported.

Of them, 14 were reported in Guangdong province, eight in Shanghai, six in Beijing and three in Fujian province. Provincial-level regions of Tianjin, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Zhejiang, Shandong, Guangxi, Sichuan and Gansu each reported one case. By the end of Thursday, 228 imported cases had been reported, said the commission.

Also on Thursday, three deaths and 31 newly suspected cases were reported on the mainland, with two of the deaths reported in Hubei province and the third one reported in Liaoning province.

On Thursday, 730 people were discharged from the hospital after recovery, while the number of severe cases decreased by 178 to 2,136.

The overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 80,967 by the end of Thursday, including 6,569 patients who were still being treated, 71,150 patients who had been discharged after recovery, and 3,248 people who died of the disease.

The commission said that 104 people were still suspected of being infected with the virus.

The commission added that 8,989 close contacts were still under medical observation. On Thursday, 1,197 people were discharged from medical observation.  

By the end of Thursday, 208 confirmed cases including four deaths had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), 17 confirmed cases in the Macao SAR, and 108 in Taiwan including one death.

A total of 98 patients in Hong Kong, 10 in Macao and 26 in Taiwan had been discharged from the hospital after recovery. 

 

All Hubei's cities, counties outside Wuhan rated as low risk

No new infections or suspected cases were reported on Thursday in Wuhan, marking the second consecutive day the epicenter of the epidemic has reported zero cases after a months-long battle with the virus.

The Health Commission of Hubei province, where Wuhan is the capital, said the total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Wuhan and Hubei remained at 50,005 and 67,800 by Thursday.

The death toll in the province had reached 3,132.

The province also saw 703 patients discharged from hospital after recovery on Thursday, bringing the total number of discharged patients in the province to 58,381.

Among the 6,016 hospitalized patients, 1,657 were still in severe condition and another 441 in critical condition. 

All the cities and counties in Hubei had been labeled as low risk except for Wuhan by the end of Wednesday, local authorities said.

Four areas listed as medium-risk areas on Monday, including the city of Zhongxiang and the urban areas of the cities of Huangshi, Huanggang and Ezhou, have now been labeled as low risk. The urban area of Wuhan remains at a high-risk level, said an expert assessment conducted by the provincial center for disease prevention and control.

According to the risk criteria defined in a guideline issued by the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council, cities, counties and districts with no new confirmed cases in the last 14 days are categorized as low-risk regions, those with fewer than 50 cases or those with over 50 but without a concentrated outbreak are classified as mid-risk regions, and those with over 50 cases as well as a concentrated outbreak are classified as high-risk regions.