Sanitation workers spray disinfectant at the customs, immigration and quarantine area of Incheon international airport, west Seoul, on Tuesday. South Korea on Tuesday confirmed its first case of the new coronavirus that is spreading in China, as concerns mount about a wider outbreak. Photo: AFP

East China's Zhejiang Province Monday reported one imported case of COVID-19 from Italy, becoming another region in China that has seen a case from abroad after Beijing, Guangdong and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

No other domestic confirmed cases were reported in Zhejiang Province on March 1, according to the local health commission. 

The reported case was an overseas Chinese woman who flew back from Milan, Italy to Qingtian county in Zhejiang on February 28. The patient, surnamed Wang, had been taking medicine since showing symptoms of fever, cough and diarrhea on February 16. 

The 31-year-old was tested positive for nucleic acid on Sunday and is now quarantined at Qingtian People's Hospital for medical treatment.  

Wang took flight SU2415H (seat number 17C) on February 26 night from Milan, transiting through Moscow (taking SU206H flight seat number 22F), and arrived at Shanghai Pudong International Airport on February 27 at night. From Shanghai a chartered car sent her to Qingtian county on February 28 morning. She was immediately quarantined upon arrival.


The growing number of imported cases has worried Chinese netizens, who fear it may revive the spread of the virus in China. Outside the epicenter of Hubei Province, China reported only three confirmed cases on Monday, the newest data showed. 

On Sunday, South China's Shenzhen in Guangdong Province also reported its first imported case of coronavirus infection. The patient came from London and went back to Shenzhen via Hong Kong, according to media reports.

The two imported cases of COVID-19 reported in Beijing on Saturday were Chinese nationals, who had flown in from Iran and had been in close contact with the first confirmed COVID-19 patient who came back to Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region from Iran.

Global Times