(VOVworld) - China's southern province of Guangdong reported two new Zika infections on Saturday, according to local health authorities. The patients are two Chinese siblings who returned from Venezuela. With eight confirmed imported Zika virus cases and the weather beginning to warm up across the country, China is on high alert. The National Health and Family Planning Commission has urged the public to stay vigilant as the spread of the illness cannot be ruled out in some regions where the mosquito population will increase as the weather gets warmer.

French Heath Minister Marisol Touraine said France has seen its first case of the Zika virus being sexually transmitted. The non-pregnant woman is reported to have been infected by her companion after he returned from Brazil.

The World Health Organization declared on February 1^st that the Zika virus and its suspected link to birth defects an international public health emergency, a rare move that signals the seriousness of the outbreak and gives countries new tools to fight it. More than 50 countries around the world have confirmed cases positive to Zika virus.