China’s National Health Committee (NHC) reported that in Hubei province 139 deaths had been reported with 1,843 new infections. The number of newly infected people in Hubei, however, has seen a decline from the more than 14,000 people a few days ago.

Meanwhile, French authorities confirmed that an 80-year-old Chinese tourist admitted to a hospital in Paris had died after being infected by Covid-19, the first death in Europe and the first one outside Asia, taking the total number of people infected to more than 70,000.

Amid criticism about dealing with the Covid-19 crisis, China’s President Xi Jinping has called for more stringent controls to contain the spread of the epidemic.

The Beijing government has ordered people travelling in other areas who return to Beijing after the long holiday for the Chinese New Year to be quarantined for 14 days, to either stay indoors in their houses or at the central disease surveillance centre.

The Beijing Daily said that anyone who did not comply with the quarantine order would be punished according to law.

The measures have been applied after Egypt confirmed finding its first Covid-19 patient in Africa.

The report stated that Beijing has a population of more than 20 million, while other Chinese cities plan to implement more stringent disease control measures.