China sees return of virus cases

BEIJING/SHANGHAI • A northwestern province on the frontline of China’s coronavirus battle reported its first cases in nearly three weeks on Tuesday, all Chinese nationals returning from overseas, as imported infections started to level off elsewhere.

China has ordered tough curbs for arriving travellers, such as mandatory quarantine, besides cutting back on international flights and limiting arrivals of foreigners.

At the same time, with about 2.5 million coronavirus cases reported worldwide, China is warning its citizens against travelling abroad.

The consular department of China’s foreign ministry said that Chinese citizens should fully assess the “serious” risk of getting infected and not being able to return.

“Those who are in China should refrain from travelling abroad, while those already overseas should avoid cross-border travel,” the ministry said. The northwestern province of Shaanxi reported 21 new infections from abroad, as well as seven cases with no clinical symptoms, all travellers on a commercial flight from Moscow bound for Beijing.

As the result of a ban on international flights arriving in Beijing, the Air China jet landed on Monday in the provincial capital of Xian, where the virus was detected by staff running tests at the airport, and confirmed on Tuesday.

All those infected were Chinese nationals.

New imported infections in mainland China fell to four on Monday, the National Health Commission said, the lowest since March 12.

Despite the curbs, the arrival of imported cases has proved difficult to predict, although in the past 14 days, Chinese citizens returning home from, or through, neighbouring Russia have constituted the majority.

With links by both air and land to Russia, the northeastern province of Heilongjiang has so far taken the brunt of such infections.

Fearing infections from Heilongjiang, authorities in neighbouring Jilin province have ordered quarantine and three rounds of testing for people who have lived in, or travelled to, Heilongjiang’s cities of Harbin or Mudanjiang this month. Shenyang, capital of the northeastern province of Liaoning, issued similar rules on Monday for people from either city.

Last week, a case in the province’s city of Fushun was linked to a locally transmitted case at a hospital in Harbin, spurring fears of a widening outbreak.

In the fight on cross-border infection, the southeastern coastal city of Xiamen offered a reward of $2,120 for key information on illegal international arrivals, including those by sea.

Mainland China’s tally of confirmed cases stood at 82,758, with 4,632 deaths, including 11 new cases on Monday.