Imported COVID-19 cases cross 1,600 in China
Authorities in China have stepped up the testing and treatment facilities at all border regions, as the country has reported 30 news positive cases of coronavirus. Out of all the new cases, a majority are he Chinese returning from abroad. With this, China's total number of imported infections have reached 1,610, the health officials said on Wednesday. According to China's National Health Commission (NHC), the death toll due to the novel coronavirus remains 4,632 with no new fatalities were reported on Tuesday, while the overall confirmed cases climbed to 82,788, of which 1,005 patients are still being treated and 77,151 have been discharged.
China's imported cases have risen to 1,610 with 30 new cases, including 23 imported infections. Of the total imported cases, 811 people are being treated with 41 in severe conditions, it said.
A total of 42 new asymptomatic cases, including seven from abroad, were reported on Tuesday, taking the total to 991 asymptomatic cases. All of them were under medical observation, the NHC said in a report.
Asymptomatic cases refer to people who are tested positive for the coronavirus but develop no symptoms such as fever, cough or sore throat. They are infectious and pose a risk of spreading to others.
By Tuesday, 1,029 confirmed cases including four deaths had been reported in the Hong Kong, 45 confirmed cases in Macao SAR and 425 in Taiwan including six deaths, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
China has scaled-up testing and treatment for COVID-19 infections in border areas as the country faces a rising risk of imported cases.
With an over 22,000-km land border dotted with 91 land ports, along with a large number of shortcuts and side routes, China faces a high risk of coronavirus importation via its land border, Xinhua report said.
However, the medical service capacity in some border regions is relatively insufficient for the epidemic response, Guo Yanhong, an official with the NHC told media on Tuesday.
The NHC has instructed the country's nine provincial-level regions with land ports to make targeted response plans in a bid to intensify containment efforts and get prepared for imported cases, Guo noted.
Describing the epidemic control in border areas as a priority in the current stage, Guo said that the commission had conducted a thorough assessment of the capacity for laboratory testing and medical treatment in border cities.
Groups of medical professionals and epidemic containment experts have been dispatched to some border areas facing a mounting challenge of imported cases, such as Suifenhe, a border city in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.
Meanwhile, the essential medical equipment, including mobile P3 laboratories, computerized tomography (CT) scan machines, have also been sent there to improve the local ability to detect and cure COVID-19 infections, Guo said.
(With PTI inputs)
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