COVID-19: Decline in new cases in China, S.Korea

ANKARA

China and South Korea continue to report a lower number of new coronavirus or COVID-19 cases.

The epicenter of the virus, the Hubei province in China has not reported any new case, state-run media said on Monday.

The province reported one death from Wuhan city on Sunday, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The health authorities discharged 114 more patients from the hospitals bringing the total numbers of recovered to 77,078, the agency added.

According to the U.S.-based John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Centre, China so far has reported 82,641 confirmed cases with 3,335 deaths.

South Korea on Monday reported 47 new coronavirus cases, the lowest number of daily infections recorded since late February, local media said.

According to Yonhap News Agency, with the newly confirmed cases, the total number of COVID-19 infections has reached 10,284.

The health authorities also reported three more deaths, bringing the total number of deaths in the country to 186, the agency said.

So far, 6,598 patients have successfully recovered and discharged from the hospitals while the number of imported cases also reached to 769 after seven more cases were deducted at border checkpoints, according to the agency.

On Monday, Seoul extended strict guidelines on social distancing for two more weeks till April 19, to stem the spread of coronavirus.

In a separate move, the authorities deported a Taiwanese woman after she refused to stay at the government quarantine facility.

The woman was deported to Taiwan late Sunday after she disagreed with paying expenses to stay at a government-designated quarantine facility, the agency quoted justice ministry was saying.

Since appearing in Chinse city of Wuhan last December, the novel coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, has spread to at least 183 countries and regions, according to figures compiled by U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.

The data shows more than 1.27 million cases have been reported worldwide, with the global death reaching 69,555.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid