China orders clean-up to prevent Zika outbreak

BEIJING -- Regions have been ordered to clean up public venues as the weather is becoming warmer, which means mosquito-born viruses, including Zika, and other infections may spread easier.

The focus should be on bus stations, ports, markets, residential communities and urban-rural border areas, according to Li Bin, head of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, at a meeting on Monday.

Li also urged people to clean up their homes and workplaces to eradicate breeding ground for mosquitoes and other bugs.

Supervision and analysis of infectious diseases must be heightened and border areas must be extra vigilant, Li said.

Symptoms of the Zika virus, which is spread to humans through mosquito bites, include fever, joint pain, rash, conjunctivitis, headache and muscle pain.

On Monday, South China's Guangdong reported a new Zika infection involving a 23-year-old man who returned from Venezuela on Feb 19. He is now in a stable condition. His case brings the total confirmed Zika cases in China to nine.