The number of new COVID-19 cases imported into China from abroad on Friday surpassed the number of locally transmitted new infections for the first time, data released yesterday by the Chinese National Health Commission showed.
China had 11 new confirmed cases, up from eight cases a day earlier, but only four of those — all in the virus epicenter of Hubei Province — were locally transmitted.
The other seven — four in Shanghai, one in the capital, Beijing, and two in northwestern Gansu Province — were all detected in travelers entering China from abroad, specifically Italy, the US and Saudi Arabia, local authorities said.
Photo: AFP
The numbers underscored how China, where the outbreak began in December last year, appears to now face a greater threat of new infections from outside its borders as it continues to slow the spread of the virus domestically.
A total of 95 cases have entered China from abroad, the commission said.
Hubei has now seen new infections fall for nine straight days. All four of the new cases on Friday, down from five a day earlier, were in the provincial capital, Wuhan.
The death toll from the outbreak in China had reached 3,189 as of Friday, up 13 from the previous day. All of the latest deaths were in Hubei and 10 of them were in Wuhan.
To date, the virus has infected 80,824 people in China, the commission said.
Globally, more than 138,000 people have been infected and more than 5,000 have died, a Reuters tally of government announcements showed.
As China’s imported cases rise, the city of Tangshan, a steelmaking hub in northern Hebei Province, warned people entering the city — whether Chinese or foreign nationals — against trying to conceal their travel history.
People who do so would have to bear all treatment costs if they are later found to have contracted the coronavirus, the Tangshan City Government said in a statement.
Of the newly imported Shanghai cases, three were Chinese who worked in Italy and flew to Shanghai via Moscow, the Shanghai Municipal Health and Family Planning Commission said, while the fourth was an Italian who flew in from Italy via Paris.
Italy has a much higher fatality rate than most other countries, with 7 percent of those testing positive for the virus dying.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) spoke with Italian President Sergio Mattarella by telephone to offer his “sincere condolences” to the Italian people over the crisis, China Central Television reported yesterday.
Xi also had telephone calls with the presidents of two other severely hit countries, Iran and South Korea, again expressing condolences, the state broadcaster said.
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