China decided to postpone the annual meeting of its parliament, due in March, for the first time since the Cultural Revolution, as the country is fighting the coronavirus outbreak, according to state media.
According to CCTV, a state broadcaster, the new date for the parliament meetings, which usually last for 10 days, would be set later and the meeting would not be postponed for too long.
Earlier in the day, six Chinese provinces have lowered their coronavirus emergency response measures from the highest level, local health authorities reported.
According to the statements, the provinces of Guangdong and Shanxi were lowered from the highest level I to level II. Meanwhile, the provinces of Liaoning, Guizhou, Yunnan and Gansu lowered their response levels to level III.
On Sunday, authorities in 21 regions of China reported that on 22 February, not a single new case of infection with a new coronavirus was recorded on their territory.
COVID-19 was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan, located in the Hubei province, in late December and has since spread to more than 25 countries. The outbreak has already left over 76,000 people infected worldwide and resulted in more than 2,300 fatalities.
