Mainland China reported zero locally transmitted Covid-19 cases for the second straight day.

However, mainland China had 39 new confirmed cases on Thursday, the country's National Health Commission said on Friday, March 20, all of which were imported cases.

As a result, the daily tally for infections involving travellers arriving in the country surged to a new record.

The total number of confirmed cases in mainland China so far is 80,967.

Wuhan, capital of central Hubei province and epicentre of the outbreak in China, saw zero new cases for the second day.

Of the new imported infections, 14 were in Guangdong, eight in Shanghai and six in Beijing.

Death toll stabilising in China

The death toll from the outbreak had reached 3,248 by the end of Thursday, up by three from the previous day.

On March 18, Hubei authorities announced they were partially opening its borders to allow healthy people from low-risk areas to leave the province if they have jobs or residences elsewhere, but this excludes Wuhan.

Life has slowly started to return to normal in the rest of the country.

People are returning to work, factories up and running, and schools in some regions resuming or preparing to go back to class.

Top photo via Xinhua