Wuhan has only TWO critically ill coronavirus patients, China says

China has announced today that there are only two critically ill coronavirus patients left in Wuhan, the former epicentre of the pandemic.

A health official said that the number of active confirmed patients in China has dropped below 1,000 for the first time and the total of critically ill cases in Wuhan has fallen to two.

More than half of the patients who contracted the bug from abroad have recovered, the authorities stated in a press conference on Thursday.

Over 82,000 people in mainland China have been infected with the deadly disease and at least 4,632 patients have died, according to China's official figures.

China has recorded 1,616 'imported cases' from abroad, of which 823 have recovered. A total of 77,207 coronavirus patients have been discharged from hospitals in the country.

Mi Feng, a spokesperson from the Chinese Centre of Disease Prevention and Control, said in a press conference today that Wuhan now only has two coronavirus patients in critical condition.

'But some areas with infection clusters have seen an increase in confirmed cases,' Mi continued.

'[We need to] cut the source of the spread quickly, fill in the loopholes in epidemic control and firmly prevent the second wave of outbreak.'

Mi's announcement comes as the northern city Harbin has reported more than 70 infections in the past two weeks the virus was allegedly imported into the area amid fears of a new outbreak.

The former ground zero Hubei Province has the brunt of the coronavirus cases in China, with a total of 68,128 infections and 4,512 deaths.

There are 69 active confirmed cases in Hubei as of today and 63,547 patients have recovered from the deadly disease.