BEIJING: China has reported 29 more deaths from coronavirus epidemic on Thursday, the lowest daily figure in almost a month.
The number of fresh infections rose slightly and reached the figure of 78,500 cases in total.
After 29 new deaths the toll stands 2,744 in mainland China, reported National Health Commission of the country. The daily tally of fatalities has fallen for three straight days now, hitting the lowest mark since January 29, when 26 new deaths were reported.
The commission reported 433 new cases, with all but 24 in central Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak that first emerged in December in its capital, Wuhan.
The number of new infections outside Hubei had been falling steadily in the past week, but it went back up from five on Wednesday. While Hubei remains under lockdown, cities in the rest of the country are slowly returning to work, though schools remain closed and Beijing requires people returning to the capital to go into 14-day self-quarantine.
The novel coronavirus has killed over 2,700 people and infected more than 80,000 in 34 countries, although the vast majority of cases remain in China, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
But the WHO said Wednesday more new cases were now being recorded outside China than inside the country, where the virus first emerged in late December.
Coronavirus cases spread in Europe and beyond on Wednesday, as the US announced it was considering new travel restrictions and Latin America confirmed its first patient from an epidemic that has killed thousands worldwide.
New cases have emerged across Europe, many linked to the continent s coronavirus hotspot in northern Italy, amid warnings from health experts to rein in hysteria as the virus continues its march beyond China s borders.
In a sign of the virus expanding footprint, Brazil confirmed Latin America s first case, a 61-year-old who travelled to Italy s Lombardy region.
Several governments have advised against travel to Italy — which has 400 cases and 12 deaths.
US President Donald Trump told reporters Wednesday his country was considering travel restrictions on Italy and South Korea, which has almost 1,600 cases, the highest number outside China.
The US has already imposed an entry ban on foreign nationals who traveled to China in the past two weeks.
Greece, Georgia and Norway all confirmed their first coronavirus cases on Wednesday.
The virus is believed to have emerged in a market in Wuhan city in China s Hubei province in late 2019, where it may have been transmitted to a human from an animal.
China imposed extraordinary quarantine measures in several cities, locking in tens of millions of people as it sought to curb the virus rapid spread.
The country announced Wednesday that people arriving in Beijing from other countries hit by the virus epidemic will go into 14-day self-quarantine.
The WHO has praised Beijing for its response, though the communist government has faced criticism at home for silencing a whistleblowing doctor who has since died from the disease.
The WHO has called for countries to “prepare for a potential pandemic” — an epidemic that spreads throughout the world — even as new cases and deaths in China have continued to dip.
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