Factbox: China's fight against novel coronavirus outbreak

Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-27 10:17:27|Editor: huaxia

BEIJING, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Here are the latest developments on the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in China:

-- Chinese health authority said Friday it received reports of 55 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on the Chinese mainland on Thursday, of which 54 were imported.

A new domestic case was reported in Zhejiang Province, the National Health Commission said.

-- Wuhan continued to report no new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Thursday.

The health commission of Hubei, of which Wuhan is the capital, said Friday the province also registered zero increase in new COVID-19 cases on Thursday. Five new deaths were recorded, four of which were in Wuhan.

-- Profits of China's major industrial firms dropped 38.3 percent year on year in the first two months of 2020, as the outbreak deals a huge blow to industrial production, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Friday.

-- Sharing scientific data and information is China's fundamental attitude to the COVID-19 control, said Xu Nanping, Vice Minister of Science and Technology.

Xu said China shared the first completed genome sequence of the novel coronavirus on Jan. 11, providing basic information for virus research, drug screening and vaccine development.

China also built two platforms to share its scientific proceedings, namely a novel coronavirus data sharing and analysis platform under the National Microbiology Data Center and the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Resource (2019nCoVR) database under the China National Center for Bioinformation.

-- China's civil aviation regulator issued a circular Thursday to further cut international flights as part of efforts to stem the inflow of COVID-19 cases.

All domestic airlines were allowed to operate only one flight to each country per week, while foreign aviation companies should keep only one air route to China and there should be no more than one flight every week for each of the air route to China, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said in a circular that will be effective from March 29.

-- South China's Guangdong Province has demanded all arrivals from overseas to undergo concentrated quarantine and nucleic acid testing (NAT) starting from 6:00 a.m. Friday in a bid to contain the spread of novel coronavirus.

-- The 4,000-plus military medical professionals that have rushed to aid the battle against the novel coronavirus in central China's city of Wuhan are sticking to their positions until "a full victory is achieved."

-- Wuhan will suspend group Tomb-sweeping Day activities to prevent mass gatherings and reduce cross-infection of the novel coronavirus.

All funeral homes, cemeteries and columbaria across the city will not allow gathering activities such as collective public offerings, vigil and tomb-sweeping activities earlier than April 30, according to a circular issued by the city's COVID-19 control headquarters Thursday.

-- Commercial flights will resume operations in Wuhan starting on April 8, excluding international flights and those between Wuhan and Beijing, Wang Benju, with the provincial department of transportation, told a press conference on Wednesday.

-- China has provided assistance to 89 countries and four international organizations to fight against the novel coronavirus, according to the China International Development Cooperation Agency.

KEY WORDS:
EXPLORE XINHUANET