Beijing: The growing number of imported coronavirus cases in China risked fanning a second wave of infections at a time when “domestic transmission has basically been stopped”, a spokesman for the National Health Commission (NHC) said on Sunday.
“China already has an accumulated total of 693 cases entering from overseas, which means the possibility of a new round of infections remains relatively big,” Mi Feng said.
In the last seven days, China has reported 313 imported cases of coronavirus but only six confirmed cases of domestic transmission, the commission’s data showed. There were 45 new cases reported in the mainland on Saturday, down from 54 on the previous day. Most of those imported cases have involved Chinese returning home from abroad.
Airlines have been ordered to sharply cut international flights from Sunday. And restrictions on foreigners entering the country went into effect on Saturday.