BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic has shown positive trend on the Chinese mainland, indicating that the outbreak is under control, an official with the National Health Commission (NHC) said Friday.
Figures including new confirmed cases across the country, new confirmed cases outside Hubei Province, and new confirmed cases in Wuhan, epicenter of the outbreak, as well as in other places of Hubei, have all been dropping gradually, said Zeng Yixin, deputy director of the NHC, at a press conference.
The daily number of new confirmed cases nationwide dropped from the peak of 15,152 on Feb. 12 to less than 900 on Thursday, he said. The number of new confirmed cases outside Hubei was 258 on Thursday, down from the peak of 890 on Feb. 3.
The daily number of newly recovered patients has been rising rapidly to 2,109 on Thursday, surpassing that of new confirmed infections for the third consecutive day, Zeng said.
The total number of suspected cases has also dropped nationwide. The number of newly reported suspected cases outside Hubei had dropped from the peak of 2,211 on Feb. 6 to Thursday's 335.
Meanwhile, the number of people still under medical observation has continued to decline in China. The number, which peaked at 190,000 on Feb. 7, fell to 120,000 on Wednesday, said Zeng.
In addition, no new confirmed cases were reported as of Thursday in 14 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China has reported zero new confirmed cases since Jan. 30 and Qinghai Province in the northwest has reported no new cases in 15 consecutive days.
Three provinces - Liaoning, Guizhou, Gansu - and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have reported zero new cases for four consecutive days and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps has reported no new cases for three consecutive days.
"The data show that the overall epidemic situation is developing toward a positive prospect nationwide, and the trend of the outbreak is under control," said Zeng.
