China reports 39 new confirmed cases of coronavirus, all imported

People wear protective face masks at Lujiazui financial district in Shanghai on March 19, 2020. PHOTO: REUTERS

BEIJING (REUTERS) - Mainland China saw a drop in its daily tally of new coronavirus cases, reversing four straight days of gains, as the country's capital Beijing ramped up measures to contain the number of infections arriving from abroad.

China had 39 new confirmed cases on Sunday (March 22), the country's National Health Commission said, down from 46 a day earlier. All of them involved travellers arriving from abroad.

The city of Beijing expanded measures to contain imported infections, diverting all international flights arriving from Monday to other airports where passengers will undergo virus screening.

Beijing reported 10 new imported cases, the National Health Commission said on Monday, down from 13 a day earlier.

Infections from abroad in the city hit an all-time high of 21 on March 18.

Shanghai and Guangzhou have also said all arriving international passengers will undergo tests to screen for the coronavirus, expanding a programme that previously only applied to those coming from heavily-affected countries.

Shanghai reported 10 new cases on Sunday, down from a record 14 a day earlier. With the coronavirus spread subsiding, the Shanghai government on Monday downgraded the city's emergency alert level from level 1 to level 2.

Guangdong province saw seven new imported infections, Fujian had four and Jiangsu had two. Hebei, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Shandong and Sichuan each saw just one case, bringing the total imported cases in China to 314 so far.

Mainland China saw no new locally transmitted infections.

As of Sunday, the total accumulated number of confirmed cases in mainland China stood at 81,093.

The death toll from the outbreak in mainland China reached 3,270, up by nine from the previous day.

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