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China has detected 137 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases in Kashgar, in the northwest Xinjiang region, after a person was found to have the virus the day before, the first new local cases in 10 days in mainland China.
All the cases detected on Sunday were related to a garment factory where the parents of a 17-year-old girl who were found to have the virus on Saturday but showed no symptoms worked, said an official with the health commission of Xinjiang at a press conference.
The new cases marked mainland China’s first local infections since October 14, when one was detected in Qingdao. Xinjiang was the site of a local group in August, prompting a “state of war” lockdown in the capital, Urumqi, but no new cases have been found in the region since August 15.
Residents reported confusion on Saturday afternoon when flights in and out of Kashgar were suddenly canceled and police authorities posted and later deleted a message on social media reminding people to wear masks and “do not create or spread rumors. ”.
The authorities subsequently announced the asymptomatic case and launched a testing program on Saturday night that covered the 4.75 million inhabitants of the region. As of Sunday afternoon, more than 2.84 million people had been screened and the rest would be covered by Tuesday, the city government said in a statement.
China does not classify asymptomatic cases as “confirmed cases” and so far no cases of people with symptoms have been reported.
The 17-year-old works and lives in a garment factory, and every two weeks she returned home to visit her family, state media reported. He had not traveled abroad or interacted with people known to be infected. Health authorities said he had driven between his home and his factory and his parents’ factory, and had been in a shopping center with his mother a week ago. Authorities said his infection was detected through routine tests, but did not explain why the tests were being carried out.
Dr Anna Hayes, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at James Cook University in Australia, said that the fact that he was a minor and lived in a factory far from his parents was suspicious, given documented evidence from the hand of non-free work in the region.
Hayes said that while factories might have pandemic measures in the workplace, they were not enforced in homes, which generally consisted of shared eating spaces and six- to eight-bed dorms.
Hayes said he also took the offered statistics of 137 asymptomatic cases “with a grain of salt.”
Hayes suggested that Chinese authorities may want to keep news of a major outbreak secret to avoid further scrutiny of their persecution of Uighurs, or to prevent Han Chinese from leaving the region in fear.
The lack of symptomatic cases among those reported also raised questions among Chinese about the transparency of officials regarding the outbreak.
“How come none of them can show symptoms? Is it because they have a special constitution or is it a different strain of the virus? “asked a person on Chinese social media.
“Is the data real? Has there been a cover-up? “said another.
Kashgar, close to the country’s borders with Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, is the cultural heartland of ethnic Uighurs and other Turkish Muslims who have been the target of persecution that some analysts say amounts to cultural genocide. Beijing vigorously denies the accusations despite mounting evidence and international pressure.
Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, was kept under strict lockdown for weeks after more than 900 cases were reported in mid-July. The sharp and sudden increase in cases, after nearly 150 days without cases, sparked speculation that authorities were covering up an outbreak. It was also feared that the virus could reach the internment camps.
The Kashgar government said Sunday that all schools except universities will remain closed until Friday, but supermarkets and shopping malls will remain open.
Four cities in the Kashgar region were identified as “high risk” areas, according to a statement from Kashgar city authorities on Sunday night, and strict controls are expected, such as travel restrictions.
China’s national health commission sent experts on Sunday to guide coronavirus control work in the ancient city of Kashgar on the Silk Road.
The new coronavirus was first identified in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. As of Sunday, mainland China had 85,810 confirmed coronavirus cases, the health authority said. The death toll from Covid-19 is 4,634.
Additional reporting by Lillian Yang.
