Asia Coronavirus Hotspots See Decline, Europe Infections Skyrockets

Health officials in China said on Tuesday that 21 new infections had been reported the day before. Only one of the cases had been transmitted locally, and the remaining 20 were all cases of individuals arriving from abroad.

China also recorded 13 new deaths.

Confirmed cases in mainland China now number 80,881. As of Monday, a total of 68,679 people have been cured and discharged from hospital, while 3,226 people had died of the disease.

South Korea, which also has a large number of coronavirus patients, reported 84 new cases of the disease.

The new figures, released by health authorities on Tuesday, brought the number of the total infections in the country to 8,320.

It was the third consecutive day that the daily infection tally in South Korea was below 100, compared with a peak of 909 on February 29.

France imposes lockdown

Meanwhile, European countries are taking more drastic measures to contain their own outbreaks of the coronavirus.

On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron ordered strict restrictions on the movement of the people to slow down the epidemic.

In an address to the nation on Monday, Macron said that from Tuesday midday (1100 GMT) people should stay home unless it was to buy groceries, travel to work, exercise, or seek medical care.

The French president also said the army would be deployed to help move the sick to hospitals.

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said some 100,000 police will be deployed to enforce the lockdown.