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An untracked coronavirus outbreak in a Chinese city near the Russian border and a series of new cases in Wuhan have raised fears of a new wave of infections in China.
On Sunday, Chinese authorities reclassified Shulan, a city near the Russian and North Korean borders, as high-risk, after a group of cases involving a woman with no known history of travel or exposure to the virus.
It came just a week after China designated all regions of the country as low or medium risk. On Sunday, the country’s national health commission reported 17 new cases, its second day of a double-digit increase and its highest number in nearly two weeks.
Five locally transmitted cases were reported in three provinces bordering Russia or North Korea: three in Jilin and one in Heilongjiang and Liaoning.
All of Jilin’s new cases occurred in the city of Shulan, including a 28-year-old woman, a 45-year-old man, and a 56-year-old man, bringing the city’s total to 12.
Local media said the source of the Shulan chain of infection remained a mystery. The Jilin Provincial Health Commission said it originated with a 45-year-old woman who has no residential or travel history outside of the province, and has no history of known contacts with people returning from abroad or key provinces.
In recent weeks, China has enacted border closings and social restrictions in border areas with Russia, including Suifenhe, in eastern Heilongjiang province, after some people returning to China via land borders were diagnosed with Covid-19.
According to a local WeChat government account, on May 2 Shulan health authorities said that in the last three weeks of April, 308 Shulan residents had returned from Russia through the ports of Suifenhe and Manzhouli. Eight were quarantined at an infectious disease hospital in Jilin, and the remaining 300 were isolated in the city of Shulan, the People’s Daily reported.
In Wuhan City, where the virus originated late last year, Chinese authorities also reported five new cases on Sunday, the highest number of new infections in the city since March 11.
The new cases, all local broadcasts, were among 17 new cases across the country, the highest in nearly two weeks.
Wuhan authorities imposed draconian restrictions on travel and movement in what appeared to have been a successful attempt to quell the outbreak.
That block began to ease in recent weeks as authorities said the disease was under control, most recently with children returning to school and allowed to travel to and from the city.
On Chinese social media, the rapid increase in cases raised concern. “We still have to take protective measures, five cases are really terrible,” wrote one user on Weibo.
“Before [now] there were almost no transfers from asymptomatic to confirmed diagnosis in Hubei province, “wrote another.” The government must respond to social concerns in a timely manner. “
“It is not easy to slow down,” wrote a third. “I felt a little relaxed and now it starts again, and I’m starting to panic again. Come on, Wuhan.
China has reported a total of 82,918 cases and a death toll of 4,633.
Additional reports by Lillian Yang
