COVID-19 situation improving, epidemic under control: China

The novel coronavirus outbreak is under control and the general situation is improving after no new cases were registered in 14 of Chinas 34 provinces and autonomous regions, a top health official said here on Friday.

Zeng Yixin, the Deputy Director of the National Health Commission, told the media here that daily deaths were however still "at a high level" and must be taken seriously in Hubei province, where the outbreak is linked to fish markets in its capital, Wuhan, the epicentre of the epidemic, reports Efe news.

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"Control of the epidemic has seen significant achievements and the situation is tending to be better," said Zeng, adding that the daily number of confirmed cases in China fell from 15,152 to less than 900 on Thursday.

Another 115 deaths and 411 infections were recorded on Thursday in Hubei, according to the latest official data, raising the province`s total cases to 60,000, where 2,144 people have died of the disease.

However, that maximum was recorded after metrics that considered a person infected were relaxed, with Wednesday`s and Thursday`s decrease in figures being due, in part, to authorities re-establishing a stricter system to count contagions.

With the exception of Hubei, Zeng said new cases have dropped countrywide from a peak of 890 to less than 300 on Thursday, adding that new infections in the province - excluding Wuhan - have dropped from 1,404 to 400.

He also noted that new daily cases confirmed in Wuhan have gone from 3,190 to less than 400 on Thursday.

The official also said new cases of patients who have overcome the disease in China have grown significantly in the last three days and matched the number of confirmed cases in the country`s provinces.

Zeng said the number of provinces and autonomous regions in which no case were recorded continue to increase, adding that there are now 14, including western Tibet, Xinjiang and northern Inner Mongolia.

Xu Nanping, science and technology vice minister, said that the first vaccine could be ready for clinical trials at the end of April.

Xu highlighted the recovery of several patients through plasma treatment, which consists of transferring blood from recovered people to critical patients.