DPA
Beijing
Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, for an inspection of epidemic control and prevention work on Tuesday, state media reported.
Immediately after his flight from Beijing, Xi went to the city’s Huoshenshan hospital, which was built within days to house residents infected with the virus, and spoke by video link to patients. He also met medical workers, the Xinhua news agency reported.
Television images showed Xi in a blue surgical face mask walking through largely deserted streets and waving at people who waved back from their apartment windows and balconies above. He noticeably kept his distance from people in his entourage and people he met.
The trip, his first to the virus epicentre, comes as China reported its lowest number of new cases on Tuesday since the daily reporting on infections began seven weeks ago.
Chinese health authorities reported only 19 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 17 deaths nationwide, according to statistics released on Tuesday by the National Health Commission. Seventeen of the new cases and all 17 new deaths were recorded in Hubei province, where the outbreak of the disease caused by the virus, Covid-19, first occurred in December.
At its peak, thousands of new cases and over a hundred new deaths were being recorded daily in China. In a single day in February, Hubei alone reported over 14,000 new cases and 242 deaths.
Xi’s words in Wuhan struck a triumphal tone as he declared the virus "basically curbed” in Hubei and "victory” nationwide, according to Xinhua.
Previously Xi had kept out of the handling of the crisis, seeking to draw a line between the central and local Hubei government, which became the target for public criticism and saw several high-profile sackings.
The total number of death worldwide passed 4,000, according to a tally by the US-based Johns Hopkins University, with Italy, South Korea and Iran the hardest hit outside of mainland China.
Singapore diagnosed six new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, taking the country’s total to 166, while Malaysia’s caseload increased by 12 to 129.
Passengers from the Italian-operated Costa Fortuna cruise vessel disembarked in Singapore on Tuesday morning after being turned away by Thailand and Malaysia over concerns about the virus in Italy.
In Indonesia, eight more people, two of them foreigners, tested positive for the virus, bringing the total confirmed cases to 27.
In the Philippines, the number of people infected with the disease rose to 33 on Tuesday, prompting more restrictions in social activities in the country.
President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the suspension of school classes in the capital until Saturday. Some government agencies prohibited employees from travelling either in an official capacity or on vacation.
Elsewhere in Asia, India began evacuating its citizens from coronavirus-hit Iran on Tuesday, with the first of 58 people reaching an Indian airbase, the Ministry of External Affairs said. Border crossing points along the India-Myanmar border in the north-eastern state of Manipur were closed as a precautionary measure, Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh said.
A total of 47 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in India including a group of Italian tourists.
In Kerala, in India’s south, more than 11,000 people are under observation. Of them 149 are in hospital isolation wards while the rest are quarantined at home, the state’s Health Department said.
In the Maldives, hundreds of tourists were stranded in quarantine in luxury hotels after suspected cases were identified in the island resorts of Kuredu and Sandies Bathala.
Special charter flights were arranged to carry over 400 Taiwan nationals, stranded in Wuhan for months, back to Taipei late on Tuesday.
Beijing
Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, for an inspection of epidemic control and prevention work on Tuesday, state media reported.
Immediately after his flight from Beijing, Xi went to the city’s Huoshenshan hospital, which was built within days to house residents infected with the virus, and spoke by video link to patients. He also met medical workers, the Xinhua news agency reported.
Television images showed Xi in a blue surgical face mask walking through largely deserted streets and waving at people who waved back from their apartment windows and balconies above. He noticeably kept his distance from people in his entourage and people he met.
The trip, his first to the virus epicentre, comes as China reported its lowest number of new cases on Tuesday since the daily reporting on infections began seven weeks ago.
Chinese health authorities reported only 19 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 17 deaths nationwide, according to statistics released on Tuesday by the National Health Commission. Seventeen of the new cases and all 17 new deaths were recorded in Hubei province, where the outbreak of the disease caused by the virus, Covid-19, first occurred in December.
At its peak, thousands of new cases and over a hundred new deaths were being recorded daily in China. In a single day in February, Hubei alone reported over 14,000 new cases and 242 deaths.
Xi’s words in Wuhan struck a triumphal tone as he declared the virus "basically curbed” in Hubei and "victory” nationwide, according to Xinhua.
Previously Xi had kept out of the handling of the crisis, seeking to draw a line between the central and local Hubei government, which became the target for public criticism and saw several high-profile sackings.
The total number of death worldwide passed 4,000, according to a tally by the US-based Johns Hopkins University, with Italy, South Korea and Iran the hardest hit outside of mainland China.
Singapore diagnosed six new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, taking the country’s total to 166, while Malaysia’s caseload increased by 12 to 129.
Passengers from the Italian-operated Costa Fortuna cruise vessel disembarked in Singapore on Tuesday morning after being turned away by Thailand and Malaysia over concerns about the virus in Italy.
In Indonesia, eight more people, two of them foreigners, tested positive for the virus, bringing the total confirmed cases to 27.
In the Philippines, the number of people infected with the disease rose to 33 on Tuesday, prompting more restrictions in social activities in the country.
President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the suspension of school classes in the capital until Saturday. Some government agencies prohibited employees from travelling either in an official capacity or on vacation.
Elsewhere in Asia, India began evacuating its citizens from coronavirus-hit Iran on Tuesday, with the first of 58 people reaching an Indian airbase, the Ministry of External Affairs said. Border crossing points along the India-Myanmar border in the north-eastern state of Manipur were closed as a precautionary measure, Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh said.
A total of 47 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in India including a group of Italian tourists.
In Kerala, in India’s south, more than 11,000 people are under observation. Of them 149 are in hospital isolation wards while the rest are quarantined at home, the state’s Health Department said.
In the Maldives, hundreds of tourists were stranded in quarantine in luxury hotels after suspected cases were identified in the island resorts of Kuredu and Sandies Bathala.
Special charter flights were arranged to carry over 400 Taiwan nationals, stranded in Wuhan for months, back to Taipei late on Tuesday.