COVID-19: China records 99 new confirmed cases of coronavirus

China has reported 99 new cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19) on Sunday, 97 of these cases were said to have been imported into the country from abroad.
The 97 imported new cases of Coronavirus in China represents the highest daily increase in imported cases recorded, surpassing the previous record of 67.

New confirmed cases in mainland China reached 99 on April 11 from 46 the previous day, with all but two involving travellers from abroad. In commercial hub Shanghai, 51 Chinese nationals flying in on the same flight from Russia tested positive.

“The risk of imported cases has increased dramatically,” Wen Guohui, mayor of Guangzhou, an economic hub in Southern China, told a news conference on Sunday.

Guangzhou is enforcing anti-virus measures on anyone who enters the city from across the national border, regardless of nationality, race or gender, foreign affairs official Liu Baochun said at the same event.

“We hope foreigners can strictly abide by anti-virus rules as Chinese do,” he said.

In the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, which reported 21 new, Russia-imported cases on April 11, the local government said its Suifenhe border with Russia will remain closed after April 13. The border was temporarily closed on April 9 to contain the epidemic, and was scheduled to open next week.