7 more people infected with coronavirus arrive in China from Italy

Those arriving at Shanghai’s airport from “key countries and areas” now must undergo a 14-day quarantine

With the domestic Covid-19 virus outbreak mostly under control outside of Hubei province, China has now found itself having to worry about coronavirus cases coming in from abroad.

On Tuesday, the province of Zhejiang reported seven more imported coronavirus cases from Italy.

These seven individuals worked in the same restaurant in the Italian city of Bergamo as a woman who tested positive for the virus on Sunday after also arriving back in Zhejiang province.

Six of these seven workers returned to China via a flight from Milan to Moscow before transferring onto a flight to Shanghai and going by private transport to Qingtian county on February 28.

The remaining worker took a flight from Italy to Germany and then flew onwards to Shanghai, arriving in Qingtian on February 29.

All of the workers were put into quarantine upon arriving in Qingtian. The woman who was diagnosed on Sunday had started showing symptoms as early as February 16.

Located near the city of Wenzhou, Qingtian county is known as the hometown of many overseas Chinese, with an estimated 100,000 people from the county living in Italy.

The local government of Qingtian has issued a letter, urging those who are planning to return home to instead stay where they are in isolation, warning that by returning to China they could be putting their families’ health at risk.

Zhang Weihua, the secretary of Qingtian’s Overseas Chinese Federation has echoed that call, advising those considering flying back to China amid the coronavirus outbreak in Italy to instead stay isolated in their homes in Italy.

So far, there have been 13 reported imported cases of the coronavirus in China.

The seven imported cases in Zhejiang were the only confirmed coronavirus cases reported in the province on Tuesday and made up the majority of the 11 infections reported on that day in China outside of Hubei province.

Previously, Chinese nationals arriving in the country from Iran and London have been diagnosed with the virus.

With the situation stabilizing in China over the past few weeks, it’s now become the Chinese people’s turn to worry over the threat of imported coronavirus cases.

Shanghai announced on Tuesday that all travelers arriving in the city from “key countries and regions” must undergo 14-day quarantine at home or in a designated place for medical observation.