BEIJING (REUTERS) - China will delay its national college entrance exam by a month as it grapples with a coronavirus pandemic as travellers returning from abroad are fuelling new cases and boosting concern over the threat of a second wave of infections.

The two-day "gaokao" annual test will be pushed back to July 7 and 8, China Central Television said on Tuesday (March 31), with Hubei province, where the virus emerged late last year, and Beijing, the capital, being given more leeway in scheduling it.

The delay to the test, seen as opening the way to a life of opportunity and taken by more than 10 million students last year, is the latest sign of China's struggle to resume normal life after widespread lockdowns aimed at reining in the virus.

"China has slowed transmission of the virus and in so doing, has passed one peak in the outbreak," said Tarik Jasarevic, a representative of the World Health Organisation. "The challenge now is to prevent a resurgence of new cases."

The epidemic in the Asia-Pacific region was "far from over", another WHO official added.

Last week, a study in British medical journal the Lancet Public Health recommended that China extend school and workplace closures, since an earlier relaxation of curbs could bring a second peak in the outbreak by August.

China's tax authorities acknowledged the pandemic's impact on exporters, saying they were studying policies to reduce pressure on businesses, from tax cuts to an extension of preferential policies for foreign firms.

New data from a survey of manufacturers showed that factory activity expanded in March from February's collapse as businesses returned to work, but analysts warned that slumping external demand could prevent a durable recovery.

"The situation could be very fluid as the virus outbreak remains unpredictable," analysts at ANZ bank said in a note. "Chinese policymakers will likely step up and expand the stimulus programme if needed."

RISE IN CASES

On Tuesday, mainland China reported an increase in new infections, reversing four days of declines, as cases rose among arrivals from overseas.

Monday's 48 new cases were up from 31 the previous day, the National Health Commission said in a statement, with one death.

All were imported, taking China's tally of such cases to 771, with no new local infection reported.

Locally transmitted infections in China have mostly declined. But authorities concerned about cases involving travellers who have caught the virus abroad are stepping up health screening and quarantine protocols and even reducing the number of international flights as well as barring entry to most foreigners.

Of the new imported cases reported on Monday, 10 were in northern China's Inner Mongolia region involving travellers whose flights were diverted from Beijing to Hohhot, Inner Mongolia's capital city, in recent days, according to state media.

Shanghai reported 11 new imported cases, comprising mainly Chinese nationals returning from abroad, while Beijing reported three new imported infections.

The city of Wuhan, capital of central Hubei province and epicentre of the outbreak in China, reported no new infections for the seventh straight day.

As of Monday, the total number of infections reported in mainland China stood at 81,518 and the death toll at 3,305.