SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters): Mainland China reported the biggest daily rise in coronavirus cases since 22 February yesterday as more infections emerged among prison inmates in the epicentre of the outbreak, but officials emphasised the overall situation continues to improve. A total of 573 news infections were reported on 29 February, compared with 427 a day earlier, according to the National Health Commission. Some 565 of these were in Wuhan, where the outbreak emerged late last year. The official China News wire service reported that 233 of the Wuhan cases were reported from the city’s prison system.

The 35 new deaths reported on Saturday were the second lowest daily total in February and down from 47 the previous day, however. There were also only three new cases outside Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital, the lowest since the commission began tracking daily cases on 20 January.

A total of 2,870 people have died from the outbreak in mainland China and 79,824 have been infected by the virus.

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