China’s health authorities say nearly 400 people were confirmed to have the new coronavirus on Wednesday, marking a sharp decline in daily numbers of new cases.
The National Health Commission says 114 more people have died from the virus, bringing the death toll on the mainland to 2,118.
The commission says the number of people infected with the virus across China rose by 394 to 74,576 on Wednesday. This is the first such figure below 1,000 since January 26.
The decline is partly attributed to a change in diagnostic criteria in Hubei Province, the center of the outbreak.
The authorities said on Wednesday that they reviewed criteria for counting as new cases people whose X-rays show signs of pneumonia but who have not been confirmed as infected.
They say the number of new cases on Wednesday does not include 279 people who were diagnosed as infected under the old criteria but tested negative.
An expert said at a government news conference that the criteria based on X-rays were necessary to cope with the number of patients but are not anymore, now that testing has improved.