Mainland China has had no new local coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours – the first time since the outbreak began in December. Beijing is still struggling to contain imported cases of the disease.

Notably, the purported epicenter of the epidemic – Wuhan, in Hubei province – recorded no new locally-transmitted infections. The same was true across China, according to reports, citing the Chinese government.

Health authorities reported 34 new cases on Thursday, but said that all involved people who had come to China from abroad. Twenty-one of the imported infections were in Beijing, marking a daily record for the Chinese capital.

In total, confirmed cases in mainland China have reached 80,928, according to the latest data, with 3,245 deaths as of the end of Wednesday.

The number of deaths in Europe from the virus surpassed those in Asia on Wednesday, raising concerns that Covid-19 could lead to a long-term health crisis for the West.

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