BEIJING • China reported nine new coronavirus cases on the mainland for Wednesday, compared with seven cases a day earlier, the country's health authority said yesterday.

All of the new infections were imported cases, according to a statement by the National Health Commission.

China also reported six new asymptomatic patients, same as a day earlier.

Beijing's city government reported no new confirmed coronavirus cases for Wednesday, the third straight day of no new infections as the city curbed the spread of the disease.

A recent outbreak in the capital had sowed fears of a second wave of infections in China, but officials appeared to have beaten back the disease with a new targeted strategy.

The authorities did not repeat the drastic nationwide shutdown seen when the virus first spread from the central city of Wuhan earlier this year.

Instead, they sealed off a limited number of residences and focused on mass testing, eventually screening more than half of the capital's 21 million people.

This approach seemed to have paid off, with reported cases falling to single digits each day by early this month and zero in the past three days till Wednesday.

The coronavirus first emerged in Wuhan late last year.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation is sending an animal health expert and an epidemiologist to China this weekend to lay the groundwork for an investigation into the animal origins of the virus.

Heavily criticised by the United States and other countries which have accused it of secrecy and a late response to the outbreak, China has said it was transparent throughout the early stages of the pandemic.

REUTERS, AGENCE, FRANCE-PRESSE