Only 46 new cases of coronavirus confirmed in China
China has confirmed 46 new cases of coronavirus today, an increase for the fourth consecutive day.
All but one of the reported infections were imported from overseas, mostly by Chinese citizens returning from other countries.
14 of the 46 confirmed cases were in the financial hub of Shanghai, while 13 were in Beijing, the nation’s capital city.
While China has taken stringent measures to significantly reduce domestic transmissions of coronavirus, attention will now turn to the threat of imported cases.
In addition to existing measures, Chinese government agencies have confirmed that flights scheduled to arrive in Beijing will be diverted to other airports where passengers will undergo a screening process.
Passengers who clear their screening will be allowed to reboard the plane, which will then land in the capital.
All international passengers arriving into Shanghai and Guangzhou will undergo tests for coronavirus, a program which initially only applied to passengers arriving from the worst afflicted nations.
The latest figures from China’s National Health Commission has reported a total of 81,054 cases of coronavirus and 3,261 deaths.
In Wuhan, the capital of the central province of Hubei, where the outbreak first emerged late last year, there has been no new cases for four days in a row. This is following strict measures, including a lockdown of the entire province.
As life in China slowly returns to normal in a bid to get the economy moving again, the government, and citizens, who continue to wear face masks in public, remain on high alert to the dangers posed by COVID-19.