Wuhan, the epicentre of the novel coronavirus outbreak in China, reported on Monday its first cluster of infections since a lockdown on th...
Wuhan, the epicentre of the novel coronavirus outbreak in China, reported on Monday its first cluster of infections since a lockdown on the central Chinese city was lifted a month ago, stoking concerns of a wider resurgence of the disease.
The news comes after Shulan, a city in north-eastern China, imposed lockdown measures on its 600,000 residents, also due to a cluster of cases.
The new infections in both cities sounded a note of caution amid efforts to ease coronavirus-related restrictions across China as businesses restart and individuals go back to work.
Wuhan reported five new confirmed cases, all of whom live in the same residential compound. Pictured, a woman wears a face shield as she walks along a street in Wuhan on Monday
Wuhan reported five new confirmed cases, all of whom live in the same residential compound. One of them was the wife of an 89-year-old male patient reported a day earlier in the first confirmed case in the city in more than a month.
'At present, the task of epidemic prevention and control in the city is still very heavy,' said the Wuhan health authority in a statement. 'We must resolutely contain the risk of a rebound.'
All of the latest confirmed cases were previously classified as asymptomatic, people who test positive for the virus and are capable of infecting others but do not show clinical signs such as a fever.
The new Wuhan cluster emerged after Shulan went into lockdown over the weekend. The city in Jilin province had registered 12 COVID-19 cases in the space of two days, all linked to the same source.
Shulan went into lockdown over the weekend after officials had recorded a cluster of 12 COVID-19 cases. The started from a 45-year-old woman who tested positive on May 7
The chain of infections in Shulan started from a 45-year-old woman who is a laundry worker at the city's public security bureau, reported Beijing News.
She tested positive on May 7 before spreading the disease to 11 more, including her husband, three sisters and one brother-in-law, according to Jilin Health Commission.
The regional authority today reported three additional local cases, all of which are related to the cluster.
One of them lives in Shulan. The other two are from the city of Jilin and were uncovered through contact tracing of people who were in contact with earlier Shulan cases.
Shulan has been marked a high-risk area, the only place in China currently with that designation.
'We're now in a "war-time" mode,' said Jin Hua, mayor of Shulan, which until last Friday had reported no local cases for more than 70 days.
Officials have enforced draconian restrictions on its residents, with just one member of a household being allowed out each day to buy necessities.
All of the new infections were previously classified as asymptomatic, people who test positive for the virus and are capable of infecting others but do not show clinical signs such as a fever. Pictured, a medic takes a swab sample from a man being tested for COVID-19 in Wuhan in April
The number of asymptomatic cases in China is not known, as they only appear on the radar of health officials when they show up positive during tests conducted as part of contact tracing and health checks.
China does not include asymptomatic cases in its overall tally of confirmed cases, currently at 82,918, until they exhibit signs of infection. Mainland China has reported 4,633 deaths.
Hundreds of asymptomatic cases in Wuhan, which was released on April 8 from a months-long lockdown, are currently being monitored, according to the city's health authority.
The number of new cases reported in China since April have been small compared with the thousands confirmed each day in February, thanks to a nationwide regime of screening, testing and quarantine. A vendor is seen selling vegetables on a street of Wuhan on April 23
The number of new cases reported in China since April have been small compared with the thousands confirmed each day in February, thanks to a nationwide regime of screening, testing and quarantine.
The government said on Friday that China will gradually reopen cinemas, museums and other recreational venues, though restrictions including mandatory reservations and a limit on numbers will be in place.
Shanghai has already reopened some night entertainment venues such as discotheques. Walt Disney on Monday reopened its Shanghai Disneyland park to a reduced number of visitors.
Shanghai Disneyland has become the first Disney resort to re-open after closing to stop the spread of coronavirus. Pictured, a visitor dressed as a Disney character takes a selfie Monday
New outbreaks in China in the past two months have mainly developed in residential compounds or at hospitals.
South Korea is also battling a wave of new cases, although there the most recent outbreaks started in nightclubs and bars.
The Wuhan cases helped push the overall new COVID-19 infections confirmed on May 10 to 17, the highest daily increase since April 28.
In the city of Shulan in north-eastern China's Jilin Province, thousands of residents are currently on lockdown after a cluster of infections had been detected. Pictured, a student wearing a face mask arrives at Changchun University Of Chinese Medicine in Jilin on May 7
The province of Heilongjiang is also on high alert for a virus comeback. The picture shows a man keeping watch at a checkpoint in the border city of Suifenhe, Heilongjiang, on April 21
Elsewhere in China, the provinces of Liaoning and Heilongjiang, both in north-eastern China, each reported one case, adding to worries about a resurgence of the outbreak in the region.
A 70-year-old patient in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang, had tested negative seven times before results turned positive.
Of the new cases, seven were so-called imported cases in the northern Chinese region of Inner Mongolia involving travellers from overseas.
Across China, the number of new asymptomatic COVID-19 cases fell to 12 on May 10 compared with 20 reported a day earlier.
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