China confirms 3rd imported Zika case

China has confirmed the country’s third imported Zika case involving a 38-year-old man in east China’s Zhejiang Province, local health authorities said on Saturday.

It was the first case in the province, nine days after the country confirmed its second Zika case.

The patient went to Fiji and Samoa on Feb. 2 and returned to his home city of Yiwu on Feb. 15. He was bitten by mosquitoes in Samoa, but did not show any symptom of fever or cold during the return trip, the patient said.

The patient is under quarantine in Yiwu, with improved physical conditions, the provincial Health and Family Planning Commission said.

“The patient is in good conditions. His temperature is normal now. The rashes on his body and hyperaemia in bulbar conjunction have disappeared, and the pain in his joints also weakened. The condition is stable,” said Lou Lianqing, director of the Infectious Disease Department of Yiwu Center Hospital.

Symptoms of the Zika virus include fever, joint pain, rashes, conjunctivitis, headache and muscle pain.

Experts say the virus, which spreads to people through mosquito bites, has little chance of spreading in this case as the low temperature now has inhibited mosquito activity.

China’s first Zika patient was discharged from hospital the previous day after a full recovery. The second case, also imported, was detected in the southern province of Guangdong on Feb. 15.