Chinese health commission: Coronavirus peak is over in China

China officials said Thursday that just eight new cases of the coronavirus have been diagnosed in roughly the past 24 hours in the province in which it started – signaling that the pandemic might have peaked. 

As cases of the novel virus around the globe are quickly rising, the progress of the illness in China purportedly has slowed considerably in the past week. 

Since the initial outbreak, 81,000 cases have been diagnosed in China.

The city of Wuhan, in the Hubei province where the coronavirus was first detected,  has been on lockdown to prevent the spread of the illness any further. Now travel restrictions are gradually being lifted.

“Broadly speaking, the peak of the epidemic has passed for China,” said spokesperson for the National Health Commission, Mi Feng.

Businesses are cautiously reopening. Hubei’s economy effectively shuttered in late January.