China says all Covid patients in Wuhan now stand discharged

The central Chinese city of Wuhan, ground zero of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic in Hubei province that bore the brunt of the outbreak in the country, has no remaining Covid-19 patients in hospitals, authorities announced on Sunday.

Nearly 3 million people have since been sickened by the rapidly spreading virus and more than 200,000 have died worldwide from the disease that is believed to have originated in a wet seafood and meat market in Wuhan, indicating just how infectious the pathogen, Sars-CoV-2, is. Early cases of Covid-19 were discovered among Wuhan residents in December 2019.

“The latest news is that by April 26, the number of new coronavirus patients in Wuhan was at zero, thanks to the joint efforts of Wuhan and medical staff from around the country,” national health commission (NHC) spokesperson Mi Feng said at a briefing in Beijing on Sunday.

The last patient in a serious condition in Wuhan was cured on Friday, reducing the number of these patients in the city to zero, Mi said.

Wuhan, however, recorded 20 new silent carriers of the virus on Friday, with 535 suspected patients under medical observation.

The city of around 11 million people was put under a total lockdown for 76 days starting January 23 and saw the highest number of cases and fatalities in China. According to the Chinese government’s revised estimates released earlier this month, the total confirmed infections in the city were 50,333 while the number of fatalities was 3,869 -- or 84% of China’s total.

The focus has since shifted to the northeast border province of Heilongjiang, which has seen large numbers of imported cases from Russia.

NHC authorities said on Sunday that it received reports of 11 new confirmed Covid-19 cases on the mainland on Saturday, of which five were imported.