The UK has exported the most coronavirus cases back to China’s capital city after the epicentre of the outbreak shifted to Europe, according to health officials.
Out of the 107 ‘imported cases’ reported by Beijing, more than a third were detected among people travelling from Britain, followed by those coming from Spain and Italy, authorities revealed.
The news comes as four members of the same family, including a one-year-old girl, all tested positive for the virus after arriving in Beijing following an eight-day-long stay in the UK.
As of Sunday, Beijing had recorded 107 infections in new arrivals from abroad, and 34 of them had flown into the Chinese capital from the UK, according to official statistics. In the file picture above, a woman carries a child at Beijing’s Capital International Airport on March 17
The UK is seeing a spike in the number of deaths and infections. At least 289 Britons have lost their lives to the killer bug and more than 5,800 have contracted the disease.
As of Sunday, Beijing had recorded 107 infections in new arrivals from abroad.
Among them, 34 people had arrived from Britain, making the UK the biggest ‘exporter’ of the deadly disease, reported China News.
Spain and Italy ranked the second and the third ‘source nation’ after 29 people arriving from the former and 18 people flying from the latter had been diagnosed with the virus.
The three countries were followed by the United States (seven cases), Austria (three cases) and Hungary (three cases).
More than a third of the imported coronavirus cases in Beijing arrived from the UK. One of China’s top coronavirus experts today warned that the nation is facing a second outbreak due to the increasing number of infections detected among new arrivals from abroad
Last week, four members of the same Chinese family were all diagnosed in Beijing after flying to the Chinese capital city from Britain via Singapore.
The case was revealed by the Beijing Center for Diseases Prevention and Control reported at a press conference yesterday.
According to spokesperson Pang Xinghuo, the family has six members and stayed in an unspecified city in Britain from March 7 and 15.
On March 13, a one-year-old girl in the family started to have coughs and a runny nose.
She and the other members then returned to China with the Singapore Airlines via Singapore on March 16.
Her mother and grandmother were found to have fevers during health screening at the Beijing international airport.
Four members of the same Chinese family, including a one-year-old girl, all tested positive for the coronavirus last week after spending eight days in the UK, Beijing’s health officials said
On March 18, the girl and her family were taken to the Xiaotangshan Hospital, a purposely built medical facility for quarantining people arriving from abroad.
She tested positive on March 20 and was confirmed to have the virus the next day.
Her mother and grandmother were diagnosed on March 18 and her brother was diagnosed on March 21.
Her father and sister have been placed under quarantine in the same hospital.
One of China’s top coronavirus experts today warned that the nation is facing a second outbreak due to the increasing number of infections detected among new arrivals from abroad.
Professor Li Lanjuan, a member of Beijing’s expert team on the virus, said she was ‘very worried that imported cases could trigger another large-scale epidemic in our country’.
Her comment came after health officials reported the country’s first case of someone who is believed to have contracted the disease, known as COVID-19, from another person returning from abroad.
Professor Li Lanjuan (pictured), a member of Beijing’s expert team on the virus, said she was ‘very worried that imported cases could trigger another large-scale epidemic in our country’
Doctors in Guangzhou, the provincial capital of Guangdong, have diagnosed a coronavirus patient who fell ill after having close contact with a person entering China from Turkey.
The 54-year-old man, known by his surname Jin, experienced muscle pain and a lack of strength on March 17. He was hospitalised on March 20 with a slight fever and tested positive the next day.
Mr Jin was a close contact with another confirmed case, 34-year-old Ms Lin, who stayed in Istanbul from January 22 to March 8 on a business trip.
Ms Lin flew back to Guangzhou on March 9 via Bangkok. She did not show any symptoms upon entering the country and stayed at home most of the time afterwards.
Chinese health officials today reported no new local cases of the deadly virus but confirmed another 39 infections brought from overseas.
Worldwide, more than 15,000 people have been killed by the contagion and around 350,000 people have been infected.
Former epicentre Wuhan slowly returns to normal after a two-month lockdown
Wuhan residents considered healthy are allowed to move around the Chinese city and take the bus or metro so long as they show ID
People in central China where the coronavirus was first detected are allowed to go back to work and public transport is restarting, as some normality slowly returns after a two-month lockdown.
The easing of restrictions in Wuhan city comes as Chinese health officials reported Monday no new local cases of the deadly virus, but confirmed another 39 infections brought from overseas.
Wuhan residents considered healthy can move around the city and take the bus or metro so long as they show ID, officials said.
They can also go back to work if they have a permit from their employer, and leave the city for other parts of the surrounding Hubei province after being tested for the virus and receiving a health certificate.
The virus, which emerged in a market that sold wild animals in December, sparked a dramatic lockdown of the city on January 23 that was then widened to the rest of the province of nearly 60 million people.
Since then infections have slowed dramatically and for five straight days there have been no new cases in Hubei.
Another nine people died in Wuhan, the National Health Commission said Monday in its latest update.
The easing of restrictions follows Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the city earlier this month — his first since the crisis erupted.
As the rate of infection slows in China, the rest of the world has stepped up measures to try and battle the raging pandemic.
China is anxious about an influx of infections brought in from other countries, with the number of imported cases climbing steadily in recent weeks to pass 350.
Of the 39 new cases reported Monday, 10 were in Shanghai and 10 were in Beijing.
Many cities have brought in tough rules to quarantine new arrivals.
Authorities have said all Beijing-bound international flights will be diverted to other cities where they will be screened for the virus to help make the process more efficient.
Those who get the all-clear will be allowed to continue to Beijing where they will still be sent to quarantine facilities.
There have now been over 81,000 cases in China, and the death toll has reached 3,270.