Beijing, May 9 (TIWN) Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday responded to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's congratulatory message for successfully containing the novel coronavirus in the Asian giant, where the disease originated last December.

Xi "sent a verbal message of thanks to Kim Jong-un" in response to Kim's earlier note, Xinhua news agency reported.

In a "verbal message", Kim had said that Xi was "seizing a chance of victory in the war against the unprecedented epidemic and strategically and tactically controlling the overall situation while leading the Chinese party and people", Efe news quoted North Korean state-run KCNA as saying in a report on Friday.

China's National Health Commission reported only a single new case Saturday, and no new deaths, bringing the total cases to 82,887, while deaths sat at 4,633, and total recoveries at 78,046 since the outbreak began in Wuhan, Hubei province.

Kim had also wished Xi "good health" and expressed conviction that "the Chinese party and people would cement the successes made so far and steadily expand them and thus win a final victory under the wise guidance of Xi Jinping", KCNA added, without specifying when the message was delivered to Beijing.