People at centre of China's virus outbreak say time to end lockdown

For days now, several cities at the heart of China's deadly coronavirus epidemic have not recorded any new infections -- so residents have a message for the authorities: it's time to lift their quarantine.

On Sunday, there were no new cases in the province for a third consecutive day except in Wuhan, which recorded 41 fresh infections. It is the first time that has happened since daily figures were released in January.

There have been no new cases in Xiangyang for 12 consecutive days.

Xianning city and Shennongjia Forest District have not had new confirmed patients for 15 straight days.

More than 3,000 people have died and over 80,600 have been infected in China.

The vast majority of deaths and cases have been in Wuhan, where health officials believe the virus first appeared in a market that sold wild animals before spreading around the world.

But the number of new cases has gradually fallen for weeks.

Following China's example, Italy plans to put large parts of the north of the country in lockdown to contain the spread of the new coronavirus.

"China and other countries are demonstrating that spread of the virus can be slowed or even reversed through the implementation of robust containment and control activities," the World Health Organization said Saturday as the global number of cases passed 100,000

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