27 Mar 2020

Mainland China reports first local coronavirus transmission in 3 days

2:34 pm on 27 March 2020

Mainland China reported its first locally transmitted coronavirus infection in three days, although cases involving travellers from overseas continued to dominate the total number of new cases.

Motorists wearing face masks, amid concerns over the spread of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus, commute along a street in Shanghai on March 23, 2020.

Photo: AFP

China's National Health Commission said on Friday that 55 new coronavirus cases were reported on the mainland on Thursday, with all but 1 case involving so-called imported cases. There were 67 new cases a day earlier.

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The one locally transmitted case was in Zhejiang province, the health commission said. The total number of infections for mainland China now stands at 81,340, with the death toll rising by five to 3,292, it said.

Reporting by Se Young Lee and Lusha Zhang.

- Reuters

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