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China has claimed it has passed “the peak” of the coronavirus outbreak, with the country recording its lowest number of daily cases in months.

On Wednesday, mainland China recorded 11 deaths from the COVID-19 virus and 15 new infections, down from 24 cases a day earlier.

This is down from approximately 2000 daily cases being recorded in China at the peak of the outbreak in late January and February, along with around 100 daily deaths.

“Broadly speaking, the peak of the epidemic has passed for China,” National Health Commission spokesman Mi Feng said.

Since the outbreak emerged in Wuhan, in the country’s Hubei province, in December more than 80,900 people in China have been infected with coronavirus.

More than 62,000 of those people have since recovered from the illness.

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Chinese authorities have credited the dramatic drop in new cases to the strict measures they have taken to contain the spread of the virus, including placing Hubei under near total lockdown.

“The increase of new cases is falling,” Zhong Nanshan, the Chinese government’s senior medical adviser, said at a news conference on Thursday.

He claimed that as long as countries take the outbreak seriously and are prepared to take firm measures, it could be over worldwide in a matter of months.

“My advice is calling for all countries to follow WHO instructions and intervene on a national scale,” he said.

“If all countries could get mobilised, it could be over by June.”

Zhong, an 83-year-old epidemiologist renowned for helping combat the SARS outbreak in 2003, said viruses in the same family typically became less active in warm months, which could help slow the spread.

“My estimate of June is based on scenarios that all countries take positive measures. But if some countries do not treat the infectiousness and harmfulness seriously, and intervene strongly, it would last longer.”

Millions of people in Wuhan and nearby cities have been in lockdown since late January, with the lockdown later extended to all schools and non-essential companies.

With the marked slowdown of the spread of the virus in China, more businesses have reopened, with authorities cautiously easing strict containment measures.

Hubei province announced on Thursday a further loosening of travel restrictions and will also allow some industries to resume production in two of its cities and two counties.

The decreasing number of patients has resulted in Wuhan closing the last of its 16 temporary hospitals which were set up to help treat the huge influx of infections.

The World Health Organisation recently praised China for the action it took to contain the outbreak.

“China and other countries are demonstrating that spread of the virus can be slowed and impact reduced through the use of universally applicable actions, such as working across society to identify people who are sick, bringing them to care, following up on contacts, preparing hospitals and clinics to manage a surge in patients, and training health workers,” WHO said in a statement.

“WHO calls on all countries to continue efforts that have been effective in limiting the number of cases and slowing the spread of the virus.

“Every effort to contain the virus and slow the spread saves lives. These efforts give health systems and all of society much needed time to prepare, and researchers more time to identify effective treatments and develop vaccines.”

But not everyone has been impressed with the way China has dealt with the virus, with White House national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, claiming their delay in reporting the outbreak had severely impacted other countries.

“Unfortunately, rather than using best practices, this outbreak in Wuhan was covered up,” he said, while speaking at a recent think-tank event.

“It probably cost the world community two months to respond,” Mr O’Brien said, adding that proper warning would have allowed others to “dramatically curtail what happened both in China and what’s now happening across the world.”

Though the number of cases are declining in mainland China, it is the opposite for Italy and Iran.

Iran on Thursday reported 75 new deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 429 in the worst-hit country in the Middle East.

Italy’s death toll has now shot past 1000, with the total number of infections surpassing 15,000.

In the country’s Lombardy region, the virus’ European epicentre, hospitals were overwhelmed with both the sick and the dead.

The nation with the second-oldest population in the world has seen its fatality rate reach more than 6 per cent, far higher than other countries.

Across Italy, restaurants, cafes and retail shops closed after the Prime Minister imposed a lockdown on personal movement.

– With Reuters