world

Updated: Mar 08, 2020 14:39 IST

The number of new coronavirus cases continued to fall dramatically in China as health authorities reported 27 new deaths and 44 new cases on Saturday with only three cases recorded outside the worst-hit Hubei province, all of which were found in people returning to China from abroad.

Thousands of new cases were being reported from China especially Hubei until a few weeks ago.

The death toll from the of covid-19 outbreak, which began in Hubei’s capital, Wuhan, in early December was 3,097 as on Saturday midnight, and the total number of infections stood at 80,695. A total of 57,065 in the mainland have recovered from covid-19, officials said.

By the end of Saturday, 63 “imported” cases of the disease had been reported.

The trend of falling cases comes in the backdrop of a top Chinese epidemiologist saying that ground zero Wuhan, under a total lockdown since January 23, was coming out of its “darkest moment” in the outbreak.

Zeng Guang, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said Wuhan is emerging from its darkest period of the ongoing outbreak and other Chinese cities were making progress as well.

Cities in Hubei are catching up with other regions in the country in curbing the virus spread, and Wuhan is “coming out of the darkest moment”, he was quoted as saying by state media.

Epidemic prevention work has been categorised into three parts nationwide: Wuhan, other cities in Hubei, and other regions in the country. Soon, it will only be divided into Wuhan and other places outside Wuhan, the expert said.

Meanwhile, at least 49 people were rescued until Sunday morning from under the debris of a hotel that collapsed in Quanzhou city of eastern China’s Fujian province. The hotel was being used as a quarantine facility for close contacts of people infected with covid-19. At least 70 persons were said to be trapped after the hotel collapsed on Saturday evening. Officials are yet to give a reason for why the hotel collapsed.

The Chinese government, meanwhile, has decided to donate US $20 million to the World Health Organisation (WHO) to support it carry out international cooperation in fighting the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

“Currently, the world is facing an escalating urgency to make global efforts in the joint prevention and control of the COVID-19, as the disease has broke out in multiple places and spread to more countries around the world,” Chinese state media said.

“As a response to the WHO’s appeal, the donation is practical support for the organisation to continue playing a better coordinating role in the global fight against the epidemic, especially in helping medium and small-sized countries with weak public health systems cement their defence against the outbreak,” the statement said.