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It comes just days after the communist regime quarantined a city of 10million people in its north west region near Russia and on Saturday China’s northwestern province of Shaanxi reported seven new imported cases coronavirus, all in citizens returning home from Russia.
A second outbreak would be a setback for President Xi Jinping who is trying to restart the nation’s economy and present an image of power to the rest of the world.
Beijing claims that the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in China, where the virus first emerged in late December, is now 82,816. The death toll remained the same at 4,632, with no new deaths reported on April 24.
But there is widespread disbelief at those figures across the globe from Western leaders who accuse Beijing of letting coronavirus spread across the globe while its leaders saved face.
Donald Trump has accused the World Health Organisation (WHO) of colluding with Beijing to downplay its coronavirus outbreak, amid doubts over China’s claim to have only 4,636 dead from the virus.
The people of Wuhan believe the death toll in their city that was the epicentre of the outbreak is 42,000 – not the 3,182 claimed by China.
Trump is backed by large numbers of Republican politicians amid claims from the US intelligence community that the virus escaped from a lab near Wuhan in an accident involving an intern.
And in the UK, Downing Street has removed China from the list of other countries it uses to compare the spread of the coronavirus – in a snub to Beijing amid widespread anger at the nation’s apparent cover-up of the seriousness of its coronavirus outbreak.
People returning to China from overseas are once again being ordered to quarantine, while health clubs and swimming pools are shutting amid fears of a new spike in the disease.
China has instituted stringent checks at its ports and border points, banning the entry of foreign nationals on March 28, and even diverting international flights from its capital city Beijing.
Still it has faced a continuous trickle of cases brought in by Chinese citizens wanting to return home in spite of risks of getting infected. In recent days, many of these have come back from Russia.
The new cases in Shaanxi were all Chinese nationals who had returned on April 20 on a flight from Moscow that was diverted away from Beijing. As of Saturday, the flight had a confirmed total of 30 cases, and 8 asymptomatic infections, according to the provincial health commission.
