A leading expert on the novel coronavirus said China should be prepared for a second outbreak.
Professor Li Lanjuan, a member of China’s expert team on the virus, warned that the next wave could come through travelers who infect others. Her comments came after the first case of community spread from a traveler to a resident was announced, according to the Daily Mail.
Li said she was “very worried that imported cases could trigger another large-scale epidemic in our country.”
“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 said, noting that it will be an “arduous” task to prevent infections from abroad.
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China has been the hardest-hit country from the pandemic, where the outbreak is believed to have originated late last year, and cases in other countries such as Italy, the United States, Iran, and Spain have spiked in recent weeks.
In China, there have been more than 81,000 cases of the coronavirus, 72,000 recoveries, and 3,247 deaths, according to the latest reading by the Johns Hopkins University tracker. Worldwide, there have been more than 351,000 cases of the coronavirus, about 100,000 recoveries, and at least 15,300 deaths.
