China monitors potential infection after third Zika case

The entry-exit inspection and quarantine bureau in China's Zhejiang province on Saturday said it was conducting epidemiological studies and sampling 32 travellers a day after the third Zika patient was reported in the country.

It was confirmed on Friday that a 38-year-old man, who had travelled to the city of Yiwu in Zhejiang on February 15 from Fiji and Samoa, had the virus, Xinhua cited the National Health and Family Planning Commission as saying.

The patient developed a fever and had been bitten by mosquitos.

None of the 32 people that travelled with the patient have developed any related symptoms so far.

The bureau advised pregnant women against travelling to countries with Zika outbreaks, as the virus is suspected by medical experts to be linked to microcephaly among newborns.

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

Disease prevention experts said the risk of the spread of the virus was low due to the current low temperature which inhibits mosquito activity.