China’s national health commission announced on Monday that for the first time in about two months, the continent had not recorded any new local COVID-19 cases.
Reuters reported that the country recorded a total of 14 new cases on Sunday, but it was determined that these were infections brought back from overseas. The report also said that Beijing does not count asymptomatic cases.
China has given broader approval for the domestically produced Sinovac coronavirus vaccine, and those who can receive it have expanded to the high-risk and priority groups already admitted under an emergency declaration.
There is speculation about the COVID-19 numbers announced by China compared to the rest of the world. The U.S., for example, announced fewer than 100,000 cases on Sunday. The Chinese government is widely accused of underestimating the virus when it came out of Wuhan in late 2019, and of trying to hide its origins and trying to suppress its numbers.
Stanley Rosen, a professor at the University of Southern California who specializes in Chinese politics, told Fox News last week that any inaccuracies are likely to come from local government officials reporting to the central government.
“I would think that, even if the statistics are not entirely accurate, it suggests that China is doing a pretty good job of controlling further outbreaks,” he said.
Fox News’ Brie Stimson and Associated Press Contributed to This Report