China reports no new Covid-19 cases for first time

BEIJING: China, the country where the coronavirus outbreak began, reported no new infections Saturday, the first time since it started reporting cases in January, foreign media reported.

China's National Health Commission said Saturday the number of new cases fell from four to zero from Thursday to Friday, putting the official death toll at more than 4,600 and confirmed cases at nearly 83,000. Stringent travel restrictions helped China contain the outbreak in areas of the country which have seen a significant decline in locally transmitted infections since March. There are more than 5.2 million COVID-19 infections worldwide and nearly 339,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. The pandemic has countries struggling to keep people safe while simultaneously reopening their economies, disrupting collective celebrations by Muslims throughout the world observing the end of Ramadan and the Memorial Day holiday weekend in the U.S., when millions traditionally head to beaches and national parks.

The US continues to be the epicenter of the contagion with 1.6 million cases, nearly one-third of all cases worldwide.

Despite the grim COVID-19 statistics in the US, President Donald Trump has made clear he wants state governors to do more to ease virus-related restrictions.

He called Friday on governors to allow places of worship to open this weekend. Trump told reporters at the White House that if governors do not allow in-person religious services to resume, he will “override” them. He did not specify how he would do that. “In America, we need more prayer, not less,” Trump said