Doctors check a CT scan image at Xiaotangshan Hospital in Beijing, on March 30, 2020. [Photo by Zou Hong/chinadaily.com.cn]

BEIJING -- China has successfully reduced the mortality rate of COVID-19 as the disease developed, said Gauden Galea, representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in China, at a press conference on April 7.

Galea said Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak in China, has managed to reduce the mortality rate to around four percent, and the figure in other regions of China has fallen below one percent.

It is normal to have high mortality rates at the beginning of an emerging infection as the surge in the number of cases exceeds the ability of the health service to provide intensive care, he said.