China on alert for new coronavirus strain but flights from Britain continue
- Health chief reassures Chinese public that so far there has been no sign of mutated virus and calls for vigilance
- Beijing holds off on British travel ban imposed by more than 30 countries
Speaking on national television on Monday night, Feng Zijian, deputy director of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, said the genome for the new strain had not been found in any of its tests on people, freight or goods entering the country.
Feng said Chinese scientists were paying close attention to British and European scientific organisations and reiterated the need to be vigilant against the risk of imported cases.
“We need to pay close attention to the transmission situation of this [new strain of the] virus in Europe and Britain, and also need to take our supervision of our protection measures to a higher level,” he said.
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