The Chinese city at the centre of the coronavirus epidemic has closed the first of 16 specially-built hospitals, hurriedly put up to treat people with the virus, after it discharged its last recovered patients, state broadcaster CCTV said on Monday. News of the closure coincided with a sharp fall in new cases in Hubei province and its capital of Wuhan but China remained on alert for people returning home with the virus from other countries where it has spread.
Outbreak under control
“The rapid rising trend of virus cases in Wuhan has been controlled,” Mi Feng, a spokesman for China’s National Health Commission, told a briefing. Mi said, “Outbreaks in Hubei outside of Wuhan are curbed and provinces outside of Hubei are showing a positive trend.”
After what some critics said was an initially hesitant response to the new virus, China imposed sweeping restrictions to try to stop it, including widespread suspensions of transport and extending a Lunar New Year holiday across the country.
Mi said authorities would transition from “overall containment to targeted containment” measures, with a focus on containment within communities, and medical treatment.
Wuhan’s Communist Party chief, Chen Yixin, hailed the government’s virus prevention efforts and said he expected the number of new cases to soon drop below 100 a day.