Medical staff pass out information about the Zika virus at Qingdao Airport in eastern China. The government has ordered the cleaning of public areas such as bus stations and markets to destroy the breeding grounds for the mosquito which carries the virus [Xinhua]
Chinese medical authorities on Tuesday reported a 10th case of the Zika virus in the southern province of Guangdong.
According to China Central Television (CCTV), a father of two children who had already contracted Zika reported a rash and was hospitalized soon thereafter.
Doctors confirmed that he now had the Zika virus.
The first case of the virus was reported on February 10 when a man who had traveled to Venezuela returned with the disease.
The Chinese government has launched a campaign to cleanse its transportation system, markets and housing communities in order to remove the possibility of breeding grounds for the Zika-carrying mosquito.
Li Bin, head of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, said that the authorities would focus their bulk of their cleaning operations on bus stations, ports, airports, markets, residential communities and urban-rural border areas.
What is the Zika virus?
Chinese authorities are hoping to have eradicated all breeding grounds before the summer as the Aedes mosquito, which carries the virus, thrives in warm weather conditions.
In early February, the World Health Organization declared the Zika virus an international public health emergency.
Brazil, which is considered ground zero in the fight against the virus, last month said that it could be transmitted through saliva and urine.
There has been mounting evidence that the virus can be sexually transmitted from infected men who have been bitten by the mosquito.
The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies
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