South China's Guangzhou reported the city's first imported COVID-19 case. A man surnamed Gao was confirmed with the disease after he arrived in Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in the Guangdong provincial capital from the Philippines.

Gao, 50, a native of Heilongjiang province in Northeast China, arrived in the airport at 8:10 pm on Friday.

Gao, who has lived and worked in the Philippines for years, left the Guangzhou airport for his apartment in Guangzhou's Tianhe district through a ride-hailing car after having throat-swab sample collected for examination at the airport at 10:45 pm.

Gao's throat-swab sample was tested positive at 8:30 am on Saturday. And Gao was immediately sent to Guangzhou No. 8 People's Hospital, a designated hospital for COVID-19 patients, for isolation treatment and his second throat-swab sample tested positive again at the hospital around noon on Saturday.

Gao had had no fever or cough and began developing the symptoms of bronchitis and pneumonia on Sunday.

By the end of Sunday, 32 people were contacted who had close contact with Gao. Among them, 14 people still in Guangzhou have been isolated for further medical observation. And the city's health department has also informed its counterparts in other cities to cope with the rest 18 people who left Guangzhou.

According to health authorities in Guangdong province, all the passengers who come from the countries and regions where Covid-19 hit hard have now been required to be sent to designated isolation venues for two weeks of medical observation.