Coronavirus cases to single-digit in Wuhan, China reports rise in 'imported cases'

Beijing: The Coronavirus cases continue to drop sharply in China which has reported 11 new fatalities, taking the death toll to 3,169, while in the worst-hit Wuhan, the confirmed cases for the first time dropped to single digit with eight new infections, amid a surge in "imported COVID-19 cases" in the country.

China's National Health Commission, (NHC) said on Thursday it received reports of 15 new confirmed cases of novel Coronavirus and 11 deaths on the Chinese mainland on Wednesday.

However, there is a surge in total number of "imported COVID-19 cases" (people arriving from abroad) which rose to 85 on Wednesday, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday.

As of Wednesday, a total of 80,793 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 had been reported on the mainland, and 3,169 people had died of the

disease.

Among the new deaths, 10 were in Hubei Province and its capital Wuhan and one in Shaanxi province, it said.

In Hubei province and Wuhan, where over 50 million people are still under lockdown, the Coronavirus cases, for the first time, dropped to a single digit. Wuhan reported eight cases on Wednesday, it said.

The latest report by the local health commission brought the total confirmed COVID-19 cases in the hard-hit province to 67,781.

As of Wednesday, Hubei had seen no new confirmed COVID-19 cases for seven consecutive days in its 16 cities and prefectures outside Wuhan.

Among the 12,769 hospitalised patients, 3,453 were still in severe condition and another 727 in critical condition in Wuhan.

South Korea reported fewer than 120 new Coronavirus cases on Thursday, but authorities warned that a new cluster in Seoul could see the infection spread in the capital.

Around 100 people linked to a call centre in the city have tested positive for the virus in recent days.

"This could lead to a 'super spread' in the metropolitan area, where half of the entire population are concentrated," Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun told a meeting on Thursday.

So far, nearly 90 per cent of South Korea's cases have been in the southern city of Daegu and the neighbouring North Gyeongsang province.