Coronavirus: China reports rise in imported cases - all Chinese nationals returning from overseas

BEIJING – Chinese authorities on Tuesday (March 3) asked overseas Chinese to reconsider or minimise their travel plans as the coronavirus epidemic spreads across the world and prompts an uptick of imported cases arriving in the country. 

Travellers from countries with severe coronavirus outbreaks who arrive in Guangdong province, an economic and export powerhouse in the south, must undergo a 14-day quarantine, state media reported on Tuesday. 

The financial hub of Shanghai will also require all people, regardless of nationality, to remain in quarantine for 14 days if they have travelled to the city from a country with “relatively serious virus conditions”, an official said.

Dandong, the northern Chinese city which borders North Korea, said it would test all visitors who arrived in the city from Feb 12. Those who arrived from Feb 28 will be tested at designated hotels where they can undergo quarantine if infected. 

“We are trying to distance ourselves from the virus, but what cannot be broken is the flesh and blood relationships between overseas Chinese and their families in their hometowns,” said the government of Qingtian county in the south-eastern Zhejiang province. 

It added that travelling was the easiest way for cross-infections to happen, describing staying home as the “best form of protection”. 

“For the sake of your family’s health and safety, please strengthen your precautions, carefully decide on your travel plans and minimise mobility,” it said. 

In total, there have been 13 confirmed cases of the virus being imported into the mainland – all Chinese nationals returning from overseas.

More than 3,100 people have died and over 90,000 have been infected worldwide. 

Mainland China had 125 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infections on Monday, the National Health Commission said on Tuesday, down from 202 cases a day earlier and the lowest since the authority started publishing nationwide data in January. 

Excluding cases in Hubei province, where the outbreak first started, there were 11 new cases in mainland China on Monday, which included seven imported cases.

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The vast majority of cases are in China but South Korea, Italy and Iran have emerged as the countries with the most cases outside the epicentre.

Eight Chinese nationals who worked in the same restaurant in Italy’s northern Lombardy region have tested positive for the virus in eastern Zhejiang province, according to the local government. They flew back to China from Italy last week.

There have also been four confirmed cases travelling back from Iran – two in Beijing and two in the northern Ningxia region – plus one case in the southern city of Shenzhen who had travelled from the UK via Hong Kong.

Beijing has been implementing a series of measures to try and prevent its containment efforts being undone by imported cases carried into the country. Those arriving in the capital city from virus-hit areas are being made to self-quarantine for 14 days.

Hundreds of passengers from South Korea arriving in eastern China were placed in isolation after people on two flights were discovered to have fever last week. No infections have been confirmed so far.

As of the end of Monday, there were 80,151 confirmed cases and 2,943 deaths, including 31 new deaths.

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