Chinese city where coronavirus began records no new case in 24 hours

Wuhan, the Chinese city where the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak began, has reported no new case of the disease in 24 hours.

The outbreak was first reported in the city in December 2019 and have spread over 177 countries and territories around the world.

Wuhan, which has been under a strict lock down since January, had 48,557 cases and 2,169 deaths as of February 29, according to the Johns Hopkins coronavirus tracker.

On Thursday, the Chinese authorities announced that the city and its surrounding province has no new cases.

Jiao Yahui, a senior inspector at the National Health Commission, said 34 new cases have been recorded in the country, in the last 24 hours, all of which were imported.

He said the “double-zero” increase shows medical treatment methods were working well as improvements have been recorded for several days.

“Today we have seen the dawn after so many days of hard effort,” Yahui said.

Government officials said travel restrictions will be relaxed in the province if there are no reported cases of the virus for two consecutive weeks.

The Asian country has recorded 3,245 deaths from the virus, while most of its patients are recovering.

The confirmed cases around the world is currently 229,917, while 9,386 patients have died and 86,254 recovered.