Coronavirus outbreak: China reports 11 new infections, including 7 'imported' cases

China has reported 11 new infections of the coronavirus on March 14 and for the first time since the pandemic originated in Wuhan, the majority of these cases were 'imported' from overseas. According to an international news agency, the National Health Commission said there were four more people infected in Hubei's capital where the first case was detected in late December, last year. Moreover, the daily tally is lowest for Wuhan since Chinese authorities started reporting figures in January. 

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Among the other seven new infections reported on March 11, four are in Shanghai, two in Gansu province, and one in Beijing and they were all people arriving from foreign countries. This has further fueled fears that China's strict containment measures might be undone by the people coming in from other coronavirus hotspots around the world. Even though reportedly the nationality remains unspecified, there have now been 95 imported cases in the mainland.

Additional 13 people have also died bringing the death toll of COVID-19 in China to 3,189 with more than 81,000 being infected. The death toll due to the deadly virus across the world also mounted to over 5,400 with more than one lakh confirmed cases.

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Global pandemic 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the coronavirus as a global pandemic after the virus spread to more than 140 countries, resulting in the deaths of more than 5,400 people worldwide. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom further even urged all nations to get very serious over the issue and take all necessary measures to contain the virus from spreading at this rate. Tedros said, that the word 'Pandemic' cannot be used lightly or carelessly due to its strong connotation. 

However, Tedros also said that the coronavirus outbreak is a "controllable pandemic". According to a statement released by the World Health Organisation, Tedros outlined two main reasons as to why the decision was taken to describe the epidemic as a pandemic. Tedros said that one reason was the speed and scale of transmission and the others was because 'countries are not approaching this threat with the level of political commitment needed to control it'.

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(With agency inputs)