(DAILY MAIL) – One of China‘s top coronavirus experts has warned that the nation is facing a second outbreak due to the increasing number of infections detected among new arrivals from abroad.

Professor Li Lanjuan, a member of Beijing’s expert team on the virus, said she was ‘very worried that imported cases could trigger another large-scale epidemic in our country’.

Her comment came after health officials reported the country’s first case of someone who is believed to have contracted the disease, known as COVID-19, from another person returning from abroad.

It also came as life in former epicentre Wuhan is slowly returning to normal following a two-month draconian lockdown.

Prof Li, 73, told China News today that the control and prevention of imported cases was an ‘arduous’ task for medical workers.

She said: ‘This requires us to continue to intensify our efforts and work tirelessly to prevent the coronavirus pneumonia epidemic from spreading in other cities.’

Prof Li has led her medical team to fight the virus in Wuhan for more than 50 days.

She told reporters in Wuhan: ‘Cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hangzhou have frequent international communications. [I am] very worried that imported cases could trigger another large-scale epidemic in our country.’