BEIJING • China has reported the highest daily increase in coronavirus cases in nearly three weeks, with 16 new infections discovered on Sunday, as the number of so-called imported cases jumped in south-western Sichuan province.
This comes as Wuhan in Hubei province - where the virus was first detected - reported no new asymptomatic cases for the first time in nearly two months amid aggressive testing.
The National Health Commission (NHC) said in a statement yesterday that all the new cases involved travellers from overseas, 11 of which were reported in Sichuan.
China reported two confirmed cases last Friday, both of which were imported.
Chinese state television reported that the Sichuan cases arrived on a flight from Egypt, and another six asymptomatic cases were found on the same flight.
China does not count asymptomatic cases as confirmed Covid-19 infections.
The NHC also reported 16 new asymptomatic cases for Sunday, compared with three a day earlier. The total number of confirmed cases in mainland China stands at 83,017, while the death toll remains at 4,634.
Meanwhile, the Wuhan authorities have said they found no new cases of "silent spreaders" for the first time in nearly two months as the city's aggressive push to test its entire population appears to have succeeded in breaking hidden chains of transmission.
Of the 60,000 people tested on Sunday, no cases of asymptomatic infections were found, said the Wuhan municipal health commission yesterday.
In an ambitious effort to guard against a resurgence, Wuhan is testing its entire 11 million population for the virus and has found some 200 asymptomatic cases in the past two weeks.
The presence of infected people who show no outward signs of being sick but can nonetheless infect others has been an obstacle in worldwide efforts to contain the coronavirus, and a major reason why Covid-19 spread so widely and quickly. In countries where testing remains inadequate, there is no way to detect such carriers and isolate them before they infect others.
In identifying asymptomatic carriers, Wuhan's testing blitz could allow the city to eradicate the pathogen from its population. But this method is likely out of reach for other countries and even bigger Chinese cities as it requires a massive mobilisation of resources and the full cooperation of residents.
Wuhan residents were likely more willing to come forward for testing given the scars that the epidemic has left on the embattled city, which was sealed off for almost three months to contain the virus' spread even as its local medical system nearly collapsed under the strain of the outbreak. Of China's reported Covid-19 deaths, about 80 per cent were in Wuhan.
Many countries, from developing ones like India and Indonesia to Western nations like the United States and Britain, are still struggling to provide tests for everyone with symptoms, not to mention those without.
During the mass testing process, Wuhan found several dozen asymptomatic cases on a daily basis. The number has tapered down to single digits as testing came to an end, according to daily data released by the local health commission.
REUTERS, BLOOMBERG
