Coronavirus pandemic expected to reach 'a turning point' in four weeks - Daily Mail

Beijing's chief medical advisor has claimed that the coronavirus pandemic will likely reach a turning point at the end of the month.

The prediction comes from Dr Zhong Nanshan, the leader of a team of experts appointed by Beijing to tackle the health crisis.

The epidemiologist, 83, also forecast that China would not see a second wave of infections "due to our powerful monitoring system".

Dr Zhong made the comments during an interview with Shenzhen Television Station today.

He said: "To deal with [the novel coronavirus pneumonia], which is highly infectious and has, we should say, a high mortality rate… there are two methods.

"One is to suppress [the transmission rate] to the lowest level and stop it from spreading, and then buy more time.

"As more countries have imposed strong measures, I estimate that it should be around the end of April when [the number of new confirmed cases] would decline."

Dr Zhong also dismissed claims that the country is facing a looming new outbreak due to the so-called "silent carrier", who are infected with the virus but show no symptoms.