Oil prices edged lower on Thursday affected by the continued hike in the number of Covid-19 infected cases which quashed the optimism of revived crude demand and the economy in China.

Brent futures slipped by 1.0% at $82.47 per barrel, on the other hand U.S. crude dropped 1.0% at $78.16 per barrel.

The surged infected cases in China that does not quite match the recent loosened curbs announced by China caused some confusion and make the pandemic status somehow unclear for other countries.

Accordingly, many countries are considering to impose new travel policy for the Chinese visitors as a precaution to combat the spread of the virus.

Based on the released figures by American Petroleum Institute, the U.S. crude oil inventories dropped lower than projections by 1.3 million barrels last week, that came below analyst's predictions at 1.5 million barrels.

Oil markets were backed up by Putin's announcement that Russia will trim its oil supplies for 5 consecutive months effective from next February to the countries that are committed to the price cap imposed by the G7.