BEIJING: The number of new cases from China’s coronavirus epidemic dropped for a third consecutive day on Sunday, as the World Health Organisation chief warned it was “impossible” to predict how the outbreak would develop.

Global concern remains high about the spread of the virus, which first emerged in China’s central Hubei province in December, with the first death outside Asia reported in France this weekend.

Taiwan reported its first death from the virus on Sunday. A 61-year-old man from central Taiwan with underlying health problems but no recent overseas travel history died in hospital on Saturday after testing positive for the virus, officials confirmed. It was the fifth recorded death outside mainland China — previous victims were in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Japan and France.

The death toll jumped to 1,665 in mainland China after 142 more people died from the virus. More than 68,000 people have now been infected — but the number of new cases of the virus strain continued to decline.

In hardest-hit Hubei, the number of new cases slowed for a third consecutive day and at 139, the number of deaths was level with Saturday’s toll.

The number of new cases in other parts of the country has dropped for twelve straight days.

Mi Feng, National Health Comm­ission spokesman, said that the figures were a sign that China was controlling the outbreak. “The effects of epidemic prevention and control in various parts of the country can already be seen,” he told reporters.

But the WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that it was “impossible to predict which direction this epidemic will take”.

“We ask all governments, companies, and news organisations to work with us to sound the appropriate level of alarm without fanning the flames of hysteria,” he said, speaking at the Munich Security Conference.

The UN health body has asked China for more details on how diagnoses are being made.

An international team of WHO experts will arrive in Beijing this weekend for a joint mission with Chinese counterparts.

The scale of the epidemic ballooned on Thursday after authorities in Hubei changed their criteria for counting cases, retroactively adding 14,000 cases in a single day.

Chinese authorities have placed some 56 million people in Hubei and its capital Wuhan under quarantine, virtually sealing off the province from the rest of the country in an unprecedented effort to contain the virus.

Even as China insisted the epidemic was under control, Hubei authorities announced on Sunday a tightening of movement across the province.

This includes broad instructions that residential compounds and villages are “sealed off” from unnecessary visitors, with tenants’ outings “strictly managed”, as well as recommending bulk purchases of daily necessities.

All non-essential public spaces will also be closed, and residential areas and workplaces with confirmed cases should implement a 14-day quarantine.

Local authorities elsewhere in China have also introduced measures to try and stop the virus from spreading.

Beijing’s municipal government has enacted a rule requiring people coming to the capital to self-quarantine for 14 days, according to official media.

The virus spread last month as millions travelled across China for the Lunar New Year holiday, which was extended to try and prevent more infections.

People have slowly started to return to work in the past two weeks, though many are doing their jobs from home and schools remain closed.

With the government facing criticism over its handling of the crisis, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for tighter policing to protect social stability.

The government must “increase use of police force and strengthen the visible use of police” during the crisis, Xi said in a February 3 speech published by state media on Saturday.

Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2020