Zika, the virus that has alarmed health experts across the globe, has now reached China. But authorities there doubt a full-blown epidemic would emerge.

The world’s most populous nation reported its first case of the Zika virus in a man who recently traveled to Venezuela.

China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission says the 34-year-old man from the southern city of Ganzhou had been treated in Venezuela on Jan. 28 before returning home on Feb. 5 via Hong Kong and the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

The commission said the man was confirmed as having the Zika virus on Tuesday, but his temperature was now normal and a skin rash was receding.

It said the virus is highly unlikely to spread in China due to low winter temperatures and a lack of mosquito activity, the primary avenue by which Zika spreads.

“It is inevitable that our region will have imported cases,” Ben Cowling, a health expert and professor at the University of Hong Kong, told Bloomberg last month.

“It is less clear whether our region will have sustained local transmission.”

Zika infections in pregnant women has been suspected for causing a rare birth defect. However, there is currently no conclusive scientific proof establishing a link between two, stirring intense research into the matter.

Last week, the WHO declared a global emergency over the spread of the virus. The organization received much criticism for its slow response to previous health crises – in particular, the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

(Asian Correspondent)