Beijing: China will hold its annual Parliament session from May 22 which was earlier scheduled to be held from March 5 and got postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic outbreak in the country, the state media reported on Wednesday.

The decision was made at a regular session of the National People’s Congress’ (NPC) Standing Committee, the country’s top legislature, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The third session of the 13th NPC, which was to be held in early March, was postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak. It will now open in Beijing on May 22, it said.

The Standing Committee of the NPC met in Beijing in February and approved a draft decision on postponing the NPC’s annual session, one of China’s biggest political events, due to the spike in the number of coronavirus cases in the country.

As of Monday, the overall confirmed cases in China reached 82,836, including 648 patients who were still being treated and 77,555 people discharged from hospitals.

China’s imported cases increased to 1,639, of which 552 were being treated with 21 in severe conditions.

Also on Monday, 40 new asymptomatic cases, including three from abroad, were reported in the country.

With a decrease in the number of cases in China, authorities in Beijing will be closing a COVID-19 special hospital after clearing all the cases.

The move to shut down the hospital comes after China’s coronavirus epicentre Wuhan recently closed 16 temporary hospitals and discharged its last patient on Sunday.

Press Trust of India