China reports 1st local COVID-19 case in over month

ANKARA

China on Friday reported its first indigenous COVID-19 case in over a month despite strict measures to prevent the spread of the deadly virus within the country.

The country’s National Health Commission said 11 coronavirus cases were reported, of whom one was locally transmitted and found in the northwestern Shaanxi province. The rest of the cases are imported from outside the country, it added.

The infected person is said to be a health employee at a local hospital, collecting samples of people in quarantine for coronavirus testing.

It was on Feb. 14 that last cases of locally transmitted coronavirus were found in China.

Ever since the first cases reported in the Wuhan city of central Hubei province on December 2019, China has reported 90,083 coronavirus infections including 4,636 deaths.

The COVID-19 virus has spread to over 190 countries and territories, infecting more than 121 million people and killing over 2.69 million.

China has faced severe criticism over the issue, but an international team of WHO health experts visiting Wuhan in January denied any claims of a lab leak being the cause of the virus outbreak.

All eyes are on the WHO team to release its much-awaited report on their study of the outbreak.