NO NEW COVID CASE IN CHINA

China recorded no new confirmed cases of Covid-19 on Friday, making it the first time that the country has seen no daily rise in infections since the pandemic began at the end of last year.

SHANGHAI:China recorded no new confirmed Covid-19 cases on the mainland on Friday, making it the first time that the country has seen no daily rise in the number of cases since the deadly coronavirus pandemic began in the central city of Wuhan late last year.

The National Health Commission (NHC) said in a statement on Saturday that this compared to four new cases on the previous day. But it said that there were two new suspected cases: an imported one in Shanghai and locally transmitted case in the northeastern province of Jilin.

New asymptomatic cases of the coronavirus fell to 28 from 35 a day earlier, the NHC said.

China has seen a sharp fall in locally transmitted cases since March as major restrictions on people movement helped it to take control of the epidemic in many parts of the country.

However, it has continued to see an influx of imported cases, mainly involving Chinese nationals returning from abroad.

The number of confirmed infections in the mainland stood at 82,971 and fatalities remained unchanged at 4,634.