two involving travellers from abroad. According to the official data released on Sunday, the toll reaches a one-month high, as the number of single-day imported cases hit a record. In commercial hub Shanghai, 51 Chinese nationals flying in on the same flight from Russia tested positive. The 52nd case involved a Chinese national arriving from a trip to Canada.
China steps up scrutiny of inbound travellers as new coronavirus cases
Additionally, China’s National Health Commission (NHC) highlighted another major source of risk that is the newly reported asymptomatic coronavirus cases nearly doubled to 63 on April 11, from 34 the previous day.
The data thus revealed that nearly all the new infections which is the biggest daily count since March 6, involve travellers from overseas. Just two out of the 99 cases were locally transmitted.
Meanwhile, after the number of single-day imported coronavirus cases set a record aiding to double the daily number of newly detected infections, China is stepping up scrutiny of inbound foreigners and tightening border control.
The foreign affairs official Liu Baochun of Guangzhou, an economic hub in Southern China, said at a news conference on Sunday that Guangzhou is enforcing anti-virus measures on anyone who enters the city from across the national border, regardless of nationality, race or gender.
He further added, “We hope foreigners can strictly abide by anti-virus rules as Chinese do.”
In the north-eastern province of Heilongjiang, the local government said that its Suifenhe border with Russia will remain closed after April 13. Earlier, the border was temporarily closed on April 9 to contain the epidemic and was scheduled to open next week.
China’s senior medical advisor Zhong Nanshan said, “At the moment, the epidemic is still spreading rapidly overseas, so China’s coastal, major cities with close international contact are highly vulnerable and could see the epidemic come back again.”
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