China Says No New Cases Confirmed Locally

China said Thursday no new local cases of coronavirus were reported in the country.

In its daily briefing, China's National Health Commission (NHC) said six more people died of the virus and 67 new cases were confirmed, but all of them were imported.

"Hubei reported no new cases of confirmed infection, no new cases of suspected infections, and 6 deaths, 5 in Wuhan," the NHC said.

Since the start of the outbreak last December in China, the country has reported more than 3,200 fatalities and confirmed over 81,000 cases of the virus, officially known as COVID-19.

An upwards of 74,000 patients recovered and were discharged from hospital, the health officials added.

The hotspot of the virus remains Wuhan, a city in China's Hubei province where more than 2,500 people died and over 50,000 cases were confirmed.

The health commission said mainland China has imported 541 cases.

The autonomous Hong Kong region has reported 410 cases and four deaths, while 106 people recovered, the NHC data showed.

In Macao region, 10 out of 30 cases were reported as recovered.

In Taiwan, two people died out of a total of 235 cases reported. Of them 29 recovered fully and were discharged from hospitals.

The global death toll from the virus has crossed 21,000, with more than 472,000 cases confirmed worldwide, according to U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.

Italy, China, Iran, and Spain continue to be the most affected countries.

Despite the rising number of cases, most who contract the virus suffer only mild symptoms before making a recovery. -