Just recently, China has announced that they have finally gotten rid of the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19. However, a member of Beijing's expert team tasked to combat the virus in the country said, "imported cases could trigger another large-scale epidemic" in the country.
People coming from the Hubei province wait at a checkpoint at the Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge in Jiujiang, Jiangxi province, China, as the country is hit by an outbreak of a new coronavirus, February 1, 2020.
According to Professor Li Lanjuan, a member of the esteemed Beijing's expert team assigned to preventing the spread of the virus, she was still very worried about the imported cases. In essence, it could once again trigger a large-scale epidemic inside the country due to a recent slip up due to a recent case of the virus making its way once again into China.
The comments of Professor Li Lanjuan
Shortly after health officials have reported the very first case of someone who was believed to have contracted the COVID-19 from an individual coming from abroad, Li Lanjuan gave her comment. This particular comment paints an unwanted picture which citizens of Wuhan are not yet ready to face just right when they have slowly gotten over the virus due to a two-month lockdown period.
According to Professor Li, 73, in a statement given to China News, the control over the previous cases and the prevention of additional cases of the COVID-19 was an arduous task for the medical workers who were involved. She said that "This requires us to continue to intensify our efforts and work tirelessly to prevent the coronavirus pneumonia epidemic from spreading in other cities."
The professor was a medical leader who led her team to fight the virus inside Wuhan for more than 50 days. According to her, "Cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou have frequent international communications. [I am] very worried that imported cases could trigger another large-scale epidemic in our country."
She then expressed that it is of utmost importance that the officials identify who was struck by the coronavirus but have not yet been officially diagnosed. She warns that this could possibly re-ignite the epidemic.
The recent case found
There have been doctors in Guangzhou who have diagnosed a patient positive of the coronavirus after entering China from Turkey.
Jin was the surname of the 54-year-old man who had reportedly experienced muscle pain as well as a lack of strength, which later on turned out to be him being positive of the virus. He was then hospitalized on Mar. 20 due to a slight fever, which later tested positive.
Jin came in close contact with another confirmed case, Ms. Lin, a 34-year-old woman who stayed inside Istanbul from Jan. 22 to Mar. 8 on a business trip. Shortly after this meet, Ms. Lin flew straight into Guangzhou on Mar. 9 via Bangkok without showing any symptoms upon entering. On Mar. 21, Ms. Lin was then found positive of the coronavirus.
Although Chinese health officials have reported no new local cases as of the moment, there have already been 39 cases coming from overseas.
