China may have ‘no new coronavirus cases’ outside Hubei epicentre by mid-March

As new infections continue to decline, senior researcher working to control epidemic predicts situation could improve in Wuhan by end of month

But death of 36-year-old man after he was discharged from hospital raises concern over whether patients are being released too soon

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Medical workers carry out checks on coronavirus patients at a makeshift hospital in Wuhan. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 11:52pm, 5 Mar 2020Updated: 1:06am, 6 Mar 2020

A senior researcher involved in efforts to contain the coronavirus epidemic is predicting there may be no more new cases in mainland China, except for the Hubei province epicentre, by mid-March, but the death of a patient after being discharged from hospital has added a worrying new aspect to the spread of Covid-19.

The mixed news comes as the contagion continues to spread around the world at an alarming pace, with global infections outnumbering those in mainland China and European countries reporting sharp spikes.

Zhang Boli, one of 14 members on a research team working to control the outbreak, had an optimistic outlook, as new infections in mainland China continued to decline on Thursday.

“We have analysed the infections trend. So far, the daily infections in places other than Hubei have almost gone down to zero since late February,” Zhang told the official People’s Daily.

“According to our analysis of the statistics, we expect cities other than Wuhan in Hubei province will be basically free of [new] coronavirus patients in the middle of March. The hope is that Wuhan won’t have daily new cases in late March.”

Zhang, who is also director of the Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said people in other parts of China might be able to remove their masks in April, but that did not mean the coronavirus would be completely gone and there could still be cases, including among people arriving from overseas.