China detects first Zika virus case

China has confirmed an imported case of Zika virus, the country's first, the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) said.

The patient, a 34-year-old male from Ganxian county of Jiangxi province, is now recovering with normal body temperature and fading rash, NHFPC said on Tuesday.

He had travelled to Venezuela and showed symptoms of fever, headache and dizziness on January 28, before returning to his hometown on February 5 via Hong Kong and Shenzhen, Global Times reported.

The NHFPC said that according to evaluation by public health officials and experts, the risk of further spreading of the virus due to this imported case is extremely low due to low temperature.

Symptoms of Zika virus, which spreads to people through mosquito bites, include fever, joint pain, rash, conjunctivitis, headache, muscle pain and eye pain.

A pilot field study using mosquitoes infected with bacteria is expected to be launched in China in March, according to a lead researcher.

The move is aimed at reducing the local mosquito population, which could pass the Zika virus to humans, said Xi Zhiyong, who heads the study.

Xi is a microbiology professor at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.