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BEIJING (Reuters) – Wuhan reported its first batch of coronavirus infections since a blockade in the city, the epicenter of the outbreak in China, was closed a month ago, fueling concerns of a broader resurgence.
The five new confirmed cases, all from the same residential complex, come amid efforts to ease restrictions in China as businesses restart and people return to work.
“We must resolutely contain the risk of a rebound,” the health authority in Wuhan, a city with a population of about 11 million, said on Monday.
New confirmed cases reported in China since April have been low compared to thousands of people every day in February, thanks to a national detection, testing and quarantine regime.
And Beijing said on Friday that cinemas, museums and other venues would gradually reopen, despite restrictions, including compulsory reservations and a limit on the number of visitors.
Meanwhile, some Shanghai nightclubs are open again, and Walt Disney Co reopened its Shanghai Disneyland Park to a small number of visitors. [L4N2CT0QU]
All of the latest cases in Wuhan were previously classified as asymptomatic, people who test positive for the virus and are able to infect others but show no clinical signs.
Hundreds of asymptomatic cases are being monitored in Wuhan, who was released on April 8 after a multi-month blockade.
On average, the city has conducted around 47,000 nucleic acid tests each day since the blockade was lifted, Reuters calculations based on reports from the Wuhan Health Authority show.
China does not include asymptomatic cases in its overall confirmed case count, now at 82,918, until they show signs of infection. Mainland China has reported 4,633 deaths.
Wuhan plans to carry out nucleic acid tests over a 10-day period, an internal document seen by Reuters and two sources familiar with the situation said, and each district was told to submit a detailed test plan on Tuesday.
The study also showed that older, densely populated residential compounds and those with a concentration of migrant populations should be the focus of the evidence.
The new outbreaks in China in the past two months have mainly developed in residential complexes or hospitals, while the number of asymptomatic cases is unknown, as these only appear on the radar when they are positive during testing.
The Wuhan Health Authority could not immediately be reached for comment outside business hours.
MODE “WAR TIME”
As Wuhan reported on new cases, Mi Feng, a spokesman for the China National Health Commission, said new infections were being located in the past 14 days in seven provinces, while cases involving groups “continued to rise.”
The health authority called for stronger protocols in laboratories handling samples of coronavirus strains and human nucleic acid tests, as well as in their transport.
“We need to investigate and determine the origin of the infections and the routes of transmission,” Mi said at a press conference.
Jilin province in northeast China, which reported a cluster of infections in Shulan on Saturday, reported three additional cases. Shulan has been marked as a high-risk area, the only place in China now with that designation.
“We are now in ‘wartime’ mode,” said Jin Hua, the mayor of Shulan, who until the weekend had reported no local cases for more than 70 days.
Shulan has imposed a blockade on its 600,000 residents since the weekend, with only one member of a household allowed to go out every day to buy essential items.
One of the three confirmed cases in Jilin province on May 10 was from Shulan. The other two were discovered through tracing contacts of people who were in contact with previous Shulan cases.
The nearby Liaoning and Heilongjiang provinces each reported one case, fueling concerns of a regional revival.
A 70-year-old man in Heilongjiang’s capital Harbin had tested negative seven times before the results turned positive.
Of the new cases, seven were in the northern region of Inner Mongolia and involved travelers from abroad.
Across China, the number of new asymptomatic coronavirus cases fell to 12 on May 10, from 20 the day before.
(Report by Se Young Lee, Lusha Zhang, Liangping Gao, Roxanne Liu, and Ryan Woo; Additional report by Beijing Newsroom; Edition by Gerry Doyle, Stephen Coates, Lincoln Feast, and Alexander Smith)
