Asia Today: China says whole country now at low virus risk

BANGKOK (AP) — China’s government declared the whole country now at low virus risk Thursday as its new cases fall to near zero and no new deaths have been reported from COVID-19 in more than three weeks.

The last place downgraded from high to low risk was Linkou county outside the city of Mudanjiang in the province of Heilongjiang that borders on Russia and where the most recent spike in cases had been reported. Authorities shut an emergency field hospital in the region after the closing of the land border and strict social distancing measures appeared to have decreased new cases to zero.

China’s National Health Administration on Thursday reported just two new coronavirus cases, both of them brought from overseas, and said 295 people remained in hospital with COVID-19.

Another 884 people were under isolation and monitoring for being suspected cases or for having tested positive while showing no symptoms.

In total, China has reported 4,633 deaths among 82,885 cases of the virus that is believed to have originated in the central industrial city of Wuhan late last year before spreading worldwide.

In other developments in the Asia-Pacific region:

— CRUISE SHIP REACHES PHILIPPINES: A cruise ship being investigated in Australia for sparking coronavirus infections has sailed into Philippine waters to bring Filipino crewmen home. The Ruby Princess will drop anchor in Manila Bay, where at least 16 other cruise ships have converged while waiting for more than 5,000 Filipino crewmembers to be tested for the virus before disembarking. Coast guard spokesman Armand Balilo said 214 Filipino crewmen on board the Ruby Princess will be tested. The Ruby Princess has been linked to 19 deaths in Australia and two in the United States. An Australian government inquiry is underway...