China reports record number of imported coronavirus cases

China’s imported coronavirus cases have risen to a record level, according to data released on Friday, with infected travellers reaching ever more provinces adding to pressure on authorities to step up tough entry rules and health protocols.

For a second day in a row, China found no domestically transmitted cases of the virus, which is believed to have emerged in a central province late last year, according to new daily figures on the disease, registered on Thursday.

Now the focus is on guarding against cases arriving from abroad as the spread of the coronavirus in Europe and North America sparks a rush home by Chinese expatriates, many of them students, raising fears of a second wave of infections just as China brings its epidemic under control.

Mainland China had 39 new confirmed cases on Thursday, the National Health Commission said, all of them imported.

Of the new imported infections, 14 were found in Guangdong, eight in Shanghai and six in Beijing, the health authority said in a statement.