China sees zero local coronavirus cases for second day, imported infections surge

Mainland China reported zero locally transmitted cases of the coronavirus for the second straight day, while the daily tally for infections involving travellers arriving in the country surged to a new record. Mainland China had 39 new confirmed cases on Thursday, the country's National Health Commission said, all of which were imported cases.

Of the new imported infections, 14 were in Guangdong, eight in Shanghai and six in Beijing, the health authority said on Friday. Wuhan, capital of central Hubei province and epicentre of the outbreak in China, saw zero new cases for the second day.

That brings the total accumulated number of confirmed cases in mainland China so far to 80,967. The death toll from the outbreak had reached 3,248 as of the end of Thursday, up by three from the previous day.