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.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS