New infections in Wuhan, China will likely drop to zero by the end of March 2020.

This was the bold prediction made on March 5 by the country's expert on fighting the disease.

Zhang Boli, a member of the central government expert group in Wuhan, said almost all regions outside Hubei had managed to halt new infections by the end of last month.

Based on data on how the outbreak has evolved, he estimated other cities in Hubei will hit such a target by mid-March.

But did not give details.

The interview was published by the official People's Daily state media.

Numbers in Wuhan

On March 6, Wuhan reported 126 new confirmed cases.

But it was the first time since the outbreak that there were no other new cases in the province of Hubei, where Wuhan is the capital city.

Outside of Hubei, there were 17 new confirmed cases.

Mainland China registered 143 total new infections, up from 139 cases a day earlier.

These numbers are a far cry from when the outbreak first started, which saw thousands infected in a short period of time.

Some parts of China returning to normal

Gansu became the first province to lower its emergency response measures from level I to level III in February, reflecting the lack of new infections.

Tibet became the latest region to lower its emergency response level on March 6 -- some areas had eased to level II and others to level III.

Chibi, a small city just south of Wuhan, will be removing road blocks and restore normal traffic within its jurisdiction by March 6, partly to facilitate spring ploughing.

Located on Hubei's southern border with Hunan, Chibi would be among the first cities in Hubei to loosen traffic curbs on travel within city boundaries.

Chibi has reported no new cases of infections for 19 days as of March 4.

However, traffic between Chibi and other counties and provinces remains off-limits.

China focused on virus from abroad

Chinese authorities are now focused on stopping the virus being brought in from overseas into China.

The number of new infections overseas now exceeds the tally of new cases in China.

Italy, South Korea and Iran, in particular, are seeing a rise in number of infections.

The U.S. death toll rose to 12 as new cases emerged around New York City and Los Angeles.

In a clear twist of fate, Hu Xijin, the editor of Chinese state-backed tabloid Global Times, wrote on Twitter that President Donald Trump administration's attempts "to downplay the epidemic is disturbing".

Hu wrote: "I have called on Chinese local governments to implement 14-day quarantine for all people coming from the U.S."

Top photo via Xinhua