China coronavirus cases fall below 100 as world total climbs over 100,000
- The number of new infections on the mainland was just 99 on Saturday, with all but one of the cases outside Hubei province imported from overseas
- World Health Organisation warns against assuming the virus will subside like flu in warmer weather
The new coronavirus has now infected more than 100,000 people around the world, but in mainland China the number of new cases fell on Saturday to just 99 – the first time since January 18 that fewer than 100 cases were recorded.
China’s National Health Commission said 74 of the new infections were reported in Hubei’s provincial capital Wuhan, with the remainder occurring in other provinces. This is the second day there were no further cases elsewhere in Hubei province where the outbreak began.
Of the 25 cases outside Wuhan, all but one of them had been imported from overseas, the commission said, bringing to 60 the number of imported cases. It was also the first time since January 26 that more than 20 new infections were reported outside Hubei province.
There were 28 new deaths – all in Hubei, with 21 in Wuhan – bringing the total number of fatalities on the mainland to 3,070, as of Friday. There have now been 80,651 infections in mainland China.
Don’t count on summer: WHO
Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s health emergencies programme, called for caution against the assumption, which has been proposed by some scientists, that Covid-19 – the disease caused by the new coronavirus – would subside in the summer like a seasonal flu.