China sees drop in imported coronavirus cases but local infections rise

Published On: April 16, 2020 11:32 AM NPT By: Reuters

A man wearing a face mask is seen under a bridge of Yangtze river in Wuhan after the lockdown was lifted in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province and China's epicentre of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, April 15, 2020. REUTERS/Aly Song

BEIJING, April 16: China reported on Thursday fewer new coronavirus cases involving travellers arriving from overseas, but locally transmitted infections rose, with the Chinese capital seeing new local cases for the first time in more than three weeks.

New imported cases dropped to 34 on Wednesday from 36 a day earlier, the National Health Commission said, down for the third straight day, amid stringent border checks and reduced international flights.

But the number of locally transmitted cases rose to 12 from 10 a day earlier, with the city of Beijing seeing three new local cases for the first time since March 23.

The other new local cases on Wednesday were in the provinces of Heilongjiang and Guangdong, both of which have been battling with an influx of infected travellers from overseas, mostly Chinese nationals returning from abroad.

Overall, mainland China reported 46 new confirmed cases on Wednesday, the same as a day earlier, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 82,341.

The number of new asymptomatic cases increased to 64 from 57 a day earlier.

China does not include patients with no clinical symptoms such as a cough or a fever in its tally of confirmed cases.