China on Tuesday said it recorded no new coronavirus death for the first time since it started publishing infection figures in January.
This comes a day before China lifts the travel ban placed on Wuhan, the contagion’s epicentre.
Also, the milestone shows China’s progress in it’s battle against the pandemic, which originated in Wuhan and spread over 200 countries in the world.
However, this new development comes as suspicions linger that the ruling Communist Party government – already accused of ignoring early signs of the virus – continues to intentionally under-report the real number of deaths and infections. China denies this allegation.
Beijing imposed an unprecedented lockdown on tens of millions of people in Wuhan and the rest of Hubei province in late January in a bid to smother the virus, and the number of new domestic infections has since dwindled for weeks.
There is however call for caution over new risks: rising numbers of infected people arriving from abroad, and the invisible threat of asymptomatic cases.
Hubei citizens had sheltered at home for more than two months until late March when authorities began relaxing the province’s isolation by allowing people to return from other regions of China.
On Tuesday, the government will begin allowing people in the provincial capital to leave the city.
A Wuhan government spokeswoman told AFP that outbound travel will remain constricted for now by a drastic reduction in air and rail services to the city, imposed at the outbreak’s pinnacle.
City authorities also warned that various restrictions on movement would remain to guard against a resurgence of infections.
Chinese media quoted a top Wuhan official saying;
Many people feel that, come April 8, they can relax a little, but actually even greater vigilance will be needed.
The National Health Commission on Tuesday reported that 32 new cases reported in China were all imported.
US President Donald Trump had warrior cast doubt on the accuracy of official Chinese figures, and US lawmakers — citing an intelligence report — accused Beijing of a cover-up.
However, official figures say 81,740 people have been infected and 3,331 have been killed by the deadly virus in China, with the vast majority in Wuhan and Hubei.
