A first for Wuhan as no asymptomatic cases recorded

WUHAN, the Chinese city where the novel coronavirus pandemic began in late 2019, reported no new asymptomatic cases for the first time, Chinese health officials said.

The municipal health commission said that 60,000 nucleic tests were carried out on Sunday and that there were no new confirmed or suspected cases.

Chinese state media outlet Xinhua said this showed the Chinese strategy of mass testing has yielded positive results. In order for a patient to be considered asymptomatic, they must test positive for Covid-19 in a nucleic acid or antibody test but display none of the symptoms associated with the disease, such as a fever, persistent cough or loss of taste or smell.

Wuhan has undertaken a massive effort when it comes to testing its entire population. Chinese officials say that up to 1.4 million people were tested daily, and that the nine million residents of Wuhan all received a coronavirus test since May 14.

Mainland China reported 16 new cases on Sunday, all of which were imported. Eleven were found in Sichuan province, three in Inner Mongolia, and two in Guangdong.

This is the highest number of official daily cases for China in three weeks. The Chinese Health Commission also reported 16 asymptomatic cases of the virus nationwide.

Three of these cases were caused by local transmission.

As of yesterday, 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. Some 4,364 people have lost their lives.

Coronavirus has swept across the globe since the first confirmed patient began experiencing symptoms in Wuhan on Dec 1 2019. To date, over six million people have been infected and more than 372,000 have died.