Vehicles line up for inspection at a public security checkpoint on the Shanghai-Chongqing expressway. The Shanghai government has introduced a range of measures seeking to contain the spread of the virus as people return to the city from their Spring Festival holidays. Under the measures, every vehicle and person must be checked. Photo: cnsphotos

Nationwide customs authorities in China reported a total of 6,728 passengers having symptoms of COVID-19 as of Wednesday when they entered Chinese borders, of whom 75 tested nucleic acid positive.

As of Wednesday, a total of 6,728 symptomatic passengers entered the country, of whom 779 were suspected cases and 75 tested positive for coronavirus, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) revealed on Wednesday.

All of them were properly transferred or had their information sent to the relevant health departments in accordance with the requirements of the joint prevention and control mechanism in China.

On Tuesday, customs authorities in China reported 227 passengers having symptoms of COVID-19, of whom five tested nucleic acid positive. Sixty-three cases were suspected of having been infected, the GAC revealed on Wednesday. 

Of those five nucleic acid positive cases, four went through Shanghai customs and one entered Beijing, the administration said. 

So far, the total number of imported confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported in China has reached 15. Since China's first overseas imported confirmed case was reported in Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region on February 26, regions including East China's Zhejiang Province, Shanghai municipality, South China's Guangdong Province and Beijing have found more confirmed imported cases. 

Coronavirus cases have spread rapidly worldwide, with more new cases of infection outside China. The overall number of confirmed cases outside China has topped 10,000 in 73 countries and regions around the world. 

The GAC said it is closely monitoring the overseas epidemic development and imposed strict preventive measures on passengers from epidemic-stricken regions. Means of transportation into China will also be disinfected to further cut off transmission. 

All people who enter and exit Chinese borders must issue personal health reports and have their body temperatures taken. 

The administration said China's customs officials have also set up inspections for other epidemics such as Ebola and Lassa fever.