More cases of coronavirus from abroad in China

CHINA reported 12 more imported cases of the novel coronavirus on Monday as the capital tightened quarantine measures for international arrivals to prevent a new wave of infections.

After declaring they had “basically” curbed the spread of the disease within China, where the virus first emerged, authorities are now worried about an influx of infections arriving from other countries.

Beijing’s city government has ordered international arrivals from Monday onwards to go into quarantine facilities for 14 days.

Travellers had previously been allowed to undergo the mandatory isolation at home, but now only those with “special circumstances” will be exempted from the new rules, and those sent to the facilities must pay for their stay.

Authorities have not given further detail on which travellers will be exempted from the new quarantine.

A total of 123 cases from abroad have now been reported, with four of the 12 latest detected in Beijing.

Imported cases have now outnumbered domestic infections for three straight days.

There were only four new local cases in the country, and all were in Wuhan, the city where the coronavirus was first detected in December, according to the National Health Commission.