China's new COVID-19 cases rise to near six-week high

Beijing: China reported the highest number of new coronavirus cases in nearly six weeks on Monday, as it tried to prevent a second wave of COVID-19 infections, a media report said.

Having largely stamped out the domestic transmission of the disease, China, where the pandemic originated last December, has been slowly easing curbs on movement as it tries to get its economy back on track, but there were fears that a rise in imported cases could spark a second wave of the pandemic - especially among Chinese citizens returning from abroad, said the South China Morning Post report.

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Authorities reported 108 new coronavirus infections over the past day, including 98 cases among travellers returning from abroad, according to data released on Monday by the National Health Commission.

This is the highest number of reported infections since March 6, when authorities reported 143 new cases.

Beijing on March 28 banned the entry of foreigners into China.

Around 300 cases of the coronavirus had been confirmed in the city by Saturday, including 100 infected people who did not appear to be showing any symptoms, the South China Morning Post reported.

China has so far reported 82,160 coronavirus cases including 3,341 deaths and 77,663 recovered patients.

Global COVID-19 death toll reaches 114,245: Johns Hopkins

The global coronavirus death toll increased to 114,245 on Monday morning, while the overall number of confirmed cases stood at 1,850,527, according to data compiled by the Washington-based Johns Hopkins University.

Although the pandemic originated in China last December, the US now accounts for the highest number of cases and deaths in the world at 557,571 and 22,108, respectively, revealed the data by the university's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE).

In terms of cases, Spain has the second highest number of infections at 166,831, followed by Italy (156,363), France (133,670) and Germany (127,854).

Also Read: Over 22,000 Healthcare Workers Infected By COVID-19: WHO

With 19,899 fatalities, Italy has the second highest number of COVID-19 deaths after the US, according to the data.

The other countries with the death toll over the 10,000 mark are Spain (17,209), France (14,393) and the UK (10,612).

(IANS)