Facemask-clad people are seen at the railway station in Hefei, China’s eastern Anhui province on March 10, 2020. (Photo by AFP)

China has confirmed 17 new coronavirus deaths, the lowest since January, raising the total number of fatalities in the country to 3,136.

Mainland China reported no new locally transmitted coronavirus cases outside of Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, for the third straight day, while major Chinese cities remained on alert for imported infections.

Mainland China had 19 new cases of coronavirus infections on Monday, the National Health Commission said on Tuesday, down from 40 cases a day earlier.

Of the new cases, 17 were in Wuhan, the provincial capital of Hubei which is under lockdown, while one was in Beijing and one other in Guangdong due to people arriving from abroad, according to the health authority.

That brings the total number of confirmed cases in mainland China so far to 80,754.

The one case in Beijing on Monday was due to a traveler from Britain, and that in Guangdong was an imported case from Spain. As of Monday, there have been 69 imported cases.

Since the outbreak, 59,897 patients have been discharged from hospital in China. Recently discharged patients need to go into quarantine for 14 days, as a precautionary measure.

While the number of cases and deaths in China is diminishing, the figures are surging in several other countries.

Mongolia and Burkina Faso have confirmed their first cases of COVID-19 infections.

All 27 European Union member states have now reported infections. Italy, Europe’s COVID-19 epicenter has so far reported over 9,000 infections and 463 deaths. That led its Prime Minister to put the whole country in a lockdown on Monday night.

Iran also announced on Monday that 43 more people have died from the novel coronavirus, increasing the death toll to 237. So far, 7,161 have been infected in the country, out of whom 2,394 have recovered, according to the Health Ministry.

This comes as the World Health Organization has warned about a looming pandemic.

SOURCE: PRESS TV