Xi’s visit came as unprecedented quarantine measures that have sealed off Wuhan and the rest of central Hubei province since late January.

During Xi’s trip, Hubei announced it would ease travel restrictions to allow healthy people in low-risk areas to travel throughout the province

Wearing a protective mask and accompanied by a retinue of military and health officials, Xi – who initially came under criticism for not acting in time to stem the virus when it first showed up in December last year, but later won praise for a decisive follow-up action – visited a makeshift hospital and community residents and frontline workers in Wuhan.

Xi, 66, vowed to resolutely fight for a victory in the war against the coronavirus during his inspection tour of Wuhan, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

During his visit, Xi said the spread of coronavirus had been basically curbed in Hubei Province and its capital Wuhan where over 50 million people lived in total isolation since January 23 following a complete lockdown of the areas.

The initial success has been made in stabilising the situation and turning the tide in Hubei and Wuhan, Xi said.

Ahead of the President’s visit on Tuesday, China’s National Health Commission (NHC) announced a dramatic drop in number of COVID-19 cases both of which fell below 20 mark for the first time since the NHC began daily reporting of cases in later part of January.

The NHC reported 19 new confirmed cases of infection and 17 fatalities on Monday. All the 17 new deaths were in Hubei province and in Wuhan, while Beijing and other cities geared up for “imported cases” with the return of large number of Chinese and foreigners to re-join work.

The overall confirmed cases in the Chinese mainland have reached 80,754 by the end of Monday. This included 3,136 people who died of the disease. 17,721 patients are still undergoing treatment while 59,897 patients have been discharged after recovery, the NHC said.

While the virus has abated in China, it has spread to over 100 countries. The death toll has reached 4,011 globally with more than 110,000 cases of infection.

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In its daily update, Hubei’s health commission also confirmed another 2,097 new cases in the central province, where the outbreak emerged in December.

There are now more than 42,200 confirmed cases across China, based on previously released figures from the government.

The new virus is believed to have emerged last year in a market that sells wild animals in Hubei’s capital Wuhan, the city at the centre of the outbreak.

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with medical workers and patients affected at a hospital in Beijing on Monday, where he called for “more decisive measures” to contain the outbreak, said state broadcaster CCTV.

An advance team for a World Health Organization-led international expert mission on the virus arrived in China late Monday, headed by Bruce Aylward. He oversaw the organization’s 2014-2016 response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.

Ahead of the team’s arrival, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned there had been some “concerning instances” of cases overseas in people with no travel history to China.

Britain on Monday recorded a doubling of cases to eight, and the government warned the outbreak of novel coronavirus was a “serious and imminent threat.”

US President Donald Trump said he expected the outbreak would disappear in April due to hotter weather, a prognosis at odds with top US health officials.

There are now over 42,000 confirmed cases in China as well as 319 cases in 24 other countries, including one death, according to WHO and Chinese health officials.

The Diamond Princess cruise ship with 3,700 passengers and crew on board remained quarantined in the Japanese port of Yokohama, with 65 more cases detected, taking the number of confirmed cases from the Carnival Corp-owned (CCL.N) vessel to 135.

British Airways cancelled all its flights to mainland China until the end of March.

Wu Fan, vice-dean of Shanghai Fudan University Medical school, said there was hope of a turning point in the outbreak. But WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday there had been “concerning instances” of transmission from people who had not been to China.

“It could be the spark that becomes a bigger fire,” Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva.

An advance team of international WHO experts arrived in China to investigate the outbreak. Its death toll has now surpassed that of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which killed hundreds worldwide in 2002/2003.

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A red-carpet welcome awaits Xi when he arrives at the ancient town around 5pm, with both the state and the central government agencies making all-out efforts .However, it is not yet clear whether the two leaders would raise the major issue of Kashmir during their informal talks.

sources told PM Modi will not avoid the issue of removal  of Article 370 since it is an internal matter of India. However President Xi may ask some clarity on this .

There will be no statement or joint communiqué by both sides after the visit as it’s an informal and unstructured meet like the one in Wuhan last year.

On Thursday, the Chinese foreign ministry refused to discuss the Kashmir issue, only saying that China’s stand on it has remained consistent. In a statement, China said the Kashmir issue should be peacefully resolved based on the UN Charter, relevant UN Security Council resolutions and bilateral agreements.

One of the major agendas of the meeting will be new and updated confidence building measures (CBMs) along the border as well as trade and investment exchanges. China is also keen on getting India in its corner against the trade actions taken by US President Donald Trump, which have shaken up the Chinese economy.

Officials said Xi will arrive at the Chennai airport around 2 pm and then head off to a luxury hotel. At 5 pm, Modi will go with Xi to three iconic monuments of Mamallapuram — Arjuna’s Penance, Panch Rathas, and the Shore temple. The two leaders then will witness a cultural programme at the temple complex. They will sit together in the lawns of the Shore temple and exchange views on charting a new roadmap of development and coöperation. Later, Modi will host a private dinner for Xi.

On Saturday, the two leaders will have a one-on-one meeting at the Fisherman’s Cove resort to be followed by delegation-level talks. Modi will later host a lunch for Xi, and the Chinese leader will leave for Chennai airport at 12:45 pm.

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Government sources said there is “needless speculation” on why the Chinese President’s visit wasn’t announced until today.” We have had a clear confirmation for weeks but we had jointly decided to announce it only a couple of days earlier,”

The summit will take place in the ancient coastal town of Mamallapuram near Chennai. The two leaders had their inaugural informal summit in China’s Wuhan in April last year.

“At the invitation of the Prime Minister, the President of the People’s Republic of China H.E. Mr. Xi Jinping will be visiting Chennai, India from October 11-12, 2019 for the 2nd Informal Summit,” the foreign ministry said. It said the Chennai Informal Summit will offer an opportunity for the two leaders to continue their discussions on overarching issues of bilateral, regional and global importance.

No Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will be signed and no joint statements will be issued during the meet which will be strictly informal, government sources said.

Ahead of Xi Jinping’s India visit, China said the Kashmir issue should be resolved between New Delhi and Islamabad, significantly omitting its recent references to the UN and UN Security Council resolutions.

Meanwhile Pakistan PM Imran Khan , is on his third China and meeting the Chinese President today. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said that China’ stand is that the Kashmir issue should be resolved between India and Pakistan.

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