WUHAN: China reported 45 new coronavirus cases in the mainland for Saturday, down from 54 on the previous day, with all but one involving travelers from overseas, the country's health authority said yesterday. In the last seven days, China has reported 313 imported cases of coronavirus but only 6 confirmed cases of domestic transmission, data from the National Health Commission showed.

Most of those imported cases have involved Chinese returning home from abroad. Airlines have been ordered to sharply cut international flights. And restrictions on foreigners entering the country went into effect on Saturday. Five more people died on Saturday, all of them in Wuhan, the industrial central city where the epidemic began in December. But Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, has reported only one new case on the last 10 days.

A total of 3,300 people have now died in mainland China, with a reported 81,439 infections. Saturday marked the fourth consecutive day that Hubei province recorded no new confirmed cases. The sole case of domestically transmitted coronavirus was recorded in Henan province, bordering Hubei. With traffic restrictions in the province lifted, Wuhan is also gradually reopening borders and restarting some local transportation services.

"It's much better now, there was so much panic back then. There weren't any people on the street. Nothing. How scary the epidemic situation was," a man, who gave his surname as Hu, told Reuters as he ventured out to buy groceries in Wuhan. "Now, it is under control. Now, it's great, right?" All airports in Hubei resumed some domestic flights yesterday, with the exception of Wuhan's Tianhe airport, which will open to domestic flights on April 8. Flights from Hubei to Beijing remain suspended.

A train arrived in Wuhan on Saturday for the first time since the city was placed in lockdown two months ago. Greeting the train, Hubei Communist Party Secretary Ying Yong described Wuhan as "a city full of hope" and said the heroism and hard work of its people had "basically cut off transmission" of the virus. More than 60,000 people entered Wuhan on Saturday after rail services were officially restarted, with more than 260 trains arriving or travelling through, the People's Daily reported yesterday.

Yesterday, streets and metro trains were still largely empty amid a cold rainy day. Flashing signs on the Wuhan Metro, which resumed operations on Saturday, said its cars would keep passenger capacity at less than 30%. The Hubei government yesterday said on its official WeChat account that a number of malls in Wuhan, as well as the Chu River and Han Street shopping belt, will be allowed to resume operations on March 30.

Concerns have been raised that a large number of undiagnosed asymptomatic patients could return to circulation once transport restrictions are eased. China's top medical adviser, Zhong Nanshan, played down that risk in comments to state broadcaster CCTV yesterday. Zhong said asymptomatic patients were usually found by tracing the contacts of confirmed cases, which had so far shown no sign of rebounding.

With the world's second-biggest economy expected to shrink for the first time in four decades this quarter, China is set to unleash hundreds of billions of dollars in stimulus. The ruling Communist Party's Politburo called on Friday for a bigger budget deficit, the issuance of more local and national bonds, and steps to guide interest rates lower, delay loan repayments, reduce supply-chain bottlenecks and boost consumption. - Reuters