Beijing - The number of new coronavirus
cases imported into mainland China from overseas surpassed the
number of locally transmitted new infections for the first time
on Friday, data released by the National Health Commission
showed on Saturday.
Mainland China had 11 new confirmed cases on Friday, up from
eight cases a day earlier, but only four of those - all in the
virus epicentre of Hubei province - were locally transmitted.
The other seven - including four in the financial hub of
Shanghai, one in the capital Beijing and two in the northwestern
province of Gansu - were all detected in travellers coming into
China from overseas, specifically Italy, the United States and
Saudi Arabia, according to local authorities.
The numbers underscore how China, where the outbreak began
in December, appears to now face a greater threat of new
infections from outside its borders as it continues to slow the
spread of the virus domestically.
A total of 95 cases have now come into mainland China from
overseas, the commission said.
Hubei has now seen new infections fall for nine straight
days. All four of the new cases on Friday, down from five a day
earlier, were in provincial capital Wuhan.
The death toll from the outbreak in mainland China had
reached 3,189 as of the end of Friday, up by 13 from the
previous day. All of the latest deaths were in Hubei and 10 of
them were in Wuhan.
To date, the flu-like virus has infected 80,824 people in
mainland China, the commission said. Globally, more than 138,000
people have been infected and over 5,000 have died, according to
a Reuters tally of government announcements.