Coronavirus update: In a first since January, China reports single digit increase in Covid-19 cases

The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Hubei, the central Chinese province hardest hit in the outbreak, dropped to below 50 on Thursday, also for the first time, health authorities said.

China on Friday reported six new confirmed Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours with new cases dropping to a single digit for the first time since January when the government began to announce daily numbers.

A woman wearing a face mask walks by a Chinese flag placed on a street prior a curfew set up to limit the spread of the new coronavirus in Belgrade, Serbia. (AP)

The national health commission (NHC) said four among the six were domestically transmitted while the remaining were imported cases.

There was no Covid-19-related death on Thursday for the ninth consecutive day, the NHC said.

The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Hubei, the central Chinese province hardest hit in the outbreak, dropped to below 50 on Thursday, also for the first time, health authorities said.

“As of Thursday, no new confirmed or suspected cases had been reported in the province for the 20th consecutive day,” the NHC spokesperson Mi Feng said on Friday in Beijing.

The number of confirmed cases in Hubei was 47 on Thursday.

As of Thursday, China reported a total of 1,618 imported cases, including 32 in critical condition, and 34 new asymptomatic cases, including one from abroad.

Meanwhile, Guangzhou, capital of southern China’s Guangdong province, has started novel coronavirus tests on 208,000 teachers, staff, and students in their final year of junior and senior high schools, local authorities said.

“As of Thursday noon, the city has completed nucleic acid tests on 193,000 teachers and students in graduating classes in high schools,” according to a report by the official news agency, Xinhua.

Among the total, about 38,000 have received the results, which all were negative, the report added.

Meanwhile, according to the tabloid, Global Times, several border cities in southwest China have conducted drills featuring simulated illegal border crossings in order to further enhance efforts to prevent imported cases of Covid-19.