National Health Commission update on virus

China reported a significant drop in new virus cases on Saturday with a daily count of 397, down from 889 a day earlier.The National Health Commission also reported 109 new deaths from the COVID-19 illness, all but three of which occurred in Hubei Province, the epicentre of the outbreak.

The new figures, along with an upward revision of Hubei's earlier count, brought the total number of cases in mainland China to 76,288, with 2,345 deaths.China has severely restricted travel and imposed strict quarantine measures to curb the spread of the virus.Xian Guoyi, a senior official at the Ministry of Commerce, told reporters that foreign trade and investment had suffered a "short-term blow", with a "growing risk (of) some projects defaulting."