Beijing, April 11 : Chinese health authorities on Saturday expressed concerns over the increasing number of imported coronavirus cases in the mainland. The authorities said they had detected 46 new cases of coronavirus, of which 42 were patients who have arrived in China from abroad, reports efe news. The four cases of local infections occurred in the southeast province of Canton (three) and the northeast region of Heilongjiang. The number of new imported cases is four more than reported on Friday (38) but fewer than the day before when 61 patients with travel history tested positive for the infection. China has been struggling to contain the number of imported cases and has imposed strict travel restrictions on the entry of foreigners to the country. The country also reported three new deaths in Hubei province. Two of the deaths occurred in the provincial capital of Wuhan, the epicentre of the pandemic that has seen 2,577 people losing their lives to the virus that has gripped the globe. The authorities said 141 infected patients were in serious conditions and 94 of them were in Wuhan. Despite the new confirmed cases, the total number of active patients in the Asian country continued to drop to 1,089. The number of patients discharged, according to the authorities, is usually more than new infections. The total number of coronavirus patients in China since the start of the pandemic stands at 81,953. Among these, 3,339 people have lost their lives. Some 77,525 people have recovered from the disease. Many Chinese have returned home from abroad since the virus engulfed the planet since in China, the virus outbreak, as per the official figures, seems more or less under control. The Chinese returning home has caused a rebound in "imported" cases in recent weeks as many of them have travelled from other global hotspots of the virus. /IANS