China sees new COVID-19 cases fall to more than three-week low

SHANGHAI: China reported the lowest daily increase in new COVID-19 cases in more than three weeks, official data showed on Monday, reversing a sharp uptick a day earlier, amid efforts to contain the disease ahead of a major holiday break.

New confirmed reported cases more than halved to 42, the National Health Commission said in a statement, down from 92 a day earlier and marking the lowest one-day increase since 33 reported on Jan. 8.

Of the 33 new locally transmitted infections, northeastern Heilongjiang reported 22 new cases while new patients reported in neighbouring Jilin province fell to 10 from 63 a day earlier. The remaining nine cases were imported infections involving travellers arriving from overseas.

National and local authorities continue to discourage travel even as the number of new cases fell, underscoring their concerns about another flare-up as the country approaches the Lunar New Year holiday period next month when hundreds of millions typically travel.

Official forecasts are for the total number of trips taken during the holiday break to fall 60% from 2019, the last time when Chinese travellers did not face any major restrictions in movement during the period. The number of asymptomatic infections, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, also fell to 16 from 19 a day earlier.

The total number of confirmed mainland COVID-19 infections to date now stands at 89,564, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,636.