China Blames UK Arrival For 1st Infection By Traveller

Chinese officials say they have identified a case of a Beijing man being infected with the virus thanks to a person who recently arrived from the UK.

Beijing officials say it is their first case of a local being infected by a person arriving from abroad, along with 142 cases of new infections from people arriving from abroad.

It is believed that the new patient identified only by his surname Liu, 42, and who was living in the city’s Haidian District had probably been infected because he shared a common staircase with the recent returnee from Britain.

Credit: AsiaWire
Pang Xinghuo from the Beijing Center for Diseases Prevention and Control

Liu who has mild symptoms is reportedly married but his wife is currently showing no signs of contracting disease.

They said that Liu had not travelled anywhere else high risk such as Hubei or other areas for the 2 weeks prior to the confirmation that he was infected, but then his downstairs neighbour, surnamed Li, had travelled back to China from the UK on 5th March.

He was confirmed as being infected on 12th March and had been using the staircase in order to go to the local supermarket to buy supplies.

He noticed the symptoms himself on 9th March and went to the hospital two days later when it worsened. Confirmation of his infection was made on 23rd March.

Liu’s symptoms are reportedly mild according to Pang Xinghuo from the Beijing Center for Diseases Prevention and Control.

He said: “Liu had used the same stairs and might have been infected there.”

He added that officials had tracked down all the areas used by the infected pair and disinfected them as well as notified all those that had probably been in contact with them.

Beijing officials added it underlined why they were forcing quarantine and nucleic acid testing (NAT) from today given the high number of new infections coming from abroad.


To find out more about the author, editor or agency that supplied this story – please click below.
Story By: Michael LeidigSub-EditorWilliam Mcgee, Agency: Asia Wire Report

The Ananova page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.

GET THE NEW STORIE ON TIME!!!!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

Signup to our Newsletter