Wuhan achieves milestone in battle against corona

Beijing : China reported 32 new coronavirus cases, including 16 asymptomatic infections, the country's health authority said on Monday.

The National Health Commission (NHC) said that a total of 16 imported cases were reported on Sunday. Eleven cases were reported in Sichuan Province, three in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and two in Guangdong Province.

Also on Sunday, 16 new asymptomatic cases were reported in the country taking the total number of people under medical observation to 397, the NHC said.

Wuhan has not reported any asymptomatic case but 320 people are still under quarantine, local health commission said.

The authorities in Wuhan tested 60,000 people on Sunday, but no cases of asymptomatic infections were found.

In an ambitious effort to guard against a resurgence of cases, Wuhan is testing its entire 11 million population for the virus and has found some 200 asymptomatic cases in the past two weeks.

Asymptomatic cases refer to people who are tested Covid-19 positive but develop no symptoms such as fever, cough or sore throat. However, they pose a risk of spreading the disease to others.

In identifying the city's asymptomatic carriers, Wuhan's testing blitz could allow the city where the virus first emerged to eradicate the pathogen from its population, reported Bloomberg.

But its 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, it further said.

The death toll of coronavirus in China remained at 4,634, the NHC said.

As of Sunday, the overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 83,017, including 76 patients who were still being treated, and 78,307 people who had been discharged after recovery.