Beijing/London, March 10 (IANS): With the World Health Organisation (WHO) warning that threat of new coronavirus pandemic is "very real," Chinese President Xi Jingping visited the epicentre of COVID-19 for the first time on Tuesday.

Xi's arrival in Wuhan comes at a time when the virus spread in mainland China has slowed down and attention has turned to global hot spots such as Iran, Italy and South Korea, reports Al Jazeera.

Mainland China reported no new locally transmitted coronavirus cases outside Hubei province for the third straight day.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced late on Monday that he was extending restrictions on travel, that had been in place in the north till date, throughout the country.

Italy has recorded more than 9,000 coronavirus infections and 463 deaths.

Globally, nearly 4,000 people have died from the coronavirus and over 110,000 cases have been confirmed.

The chief of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said that as COVID-19 has got a foothold in so many countries, the threat of a pandemic has become "very real", but it would be the first pandemic in history that could be controlled.

"It's certainly troubling that so many people and countries have been affected, so quickly," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.