In China, second day with no new local case of coronavirus contamination

The containment of the epidemic in the Asian country, where the virus was detected in December, offers a ray of hope to several other nations currently confined to try to stem the spread of Covid-19. For the second consecutive day, China did not report any new local contamination with coronavirus on Friday, even if the number of imported cases reached a record.

The number of new daily deaths has dropped sharply in China in recent weeks: only three were announced Friday by the Ministry of Health, at the lowest since the launch of statistics in January.

Symbol of a tilting of the epicenter of the crisis from Asia to Europe: the total of deaths in Italy (3,405) exceeded Thursday that recorded in China, which now stands at 3,248 deaths. Since the start of the epidemic, nearly 81,000 people have been infected in the Asian country. But only 7,000 are still sick.

Strict sanitary controls

China's main concern now is to prevent infected people from abroad creating a second epidemic wave on Chinese soil. The Ministry of Health announced on Friday a record 39 new imported cases against 34 the previous day, bringing the total to 228.

Faced with the risk, several cities and provinces, including Beijing, now impose strict health controls on anyone arriving from another country, with a compulsory quarantine of 14 days in a place provided for this purpose.

The new coronavirus was detected for the first time in Wuhan (central China) at the end of 2019. To stop the spread of the epidemic, the authorities had cordoned off the city and the surrounding province of Hubei, that is, more than 50 million people. . But the restrictions are gradually being lifted.