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March 31, 2020

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Stress on need to work on asymptomatic cases

THE group in charge of leading China’s COVID-19 response yesterday stressed on the need to control cases of infections that show no symptoms.

The group, led by Premier Li Keqiang, at a meeting called for improving prevention and control strategies and measures to bring economic and social development back on normal track at an early date.

Noting that the positive trend in containing the domestic epidemic keeps expanding and the resumption of work and production is being promoted in an orderly fashion, the meeting stressed that the world is nevertheless still battling the COVID-19 pandemic and the risks and difficulties of epidemic containment in the country should be fully recognized.

The return to work has prompted concern about potential domestic infections as travel curbs are rolled back, especially regarding carriers who exhibit no, or very mild, symptoms of the highly contagious virus.

The northwestern Gansu Province on Sunday reported a new case of a traveler from the central province of Hubei, who drove back with a virus-free health code, national health authorities said.

The meeting called for more efforts in monitoring, tracing, quarantining and treating the asymptomatic patients, urging local authorities to release relevant information with openness and transparency.

The screening of asymptomatic infections should be stepped up and the detection range should be expanded, it added. The identified asymptomatic patients should be put under close quarantine, the meeting said, urging that the infection sources of these patients should be found out as early as possible.

Cross-border transmissions should also be further prevented, the meeting said, stressing that all travelers entering the country should take nucleic acid tests.

China reported a drop in new coronavirus infections for a fourth day as drastic curbs on international travelers reined in the number of imported cases. Sunday’s figure of 31 new cases, including the sole locally transmitted infection in Gansu, was down from 45 the previous day, the National Health Commission said.

Shanghai reported six new imported cases — two from the United States and four from Britain. The reports have brought the number of imported cases in Shanghai to 159.

China cut international flights massively from Sunday for an indefinite period, after it began denying entry to most foreigners a day earlier.

Average daily arrivals at airports this week are expected to be about 4,000, down from 25,000 last week, an official of the Civil Aviation Administration of China told a news conference in Beijing yesterday. A total of 100 international flights originally bound for Beijing had been diverted to 12 other cities as of Sunday.

Meanwhile, the city of Wuhan, worst hit by the outbreak, reported no new cases for a sixth day, as businesses reopened and residents set about reclaiming a more normal life after a lockdown for almost two months.

Smartly turned-out staff waited in masks and gloves to greet customers at entrances to the newly reopened Wuhan International Plaza, home to boutiques of luxury brands such as Cartier and Louis Vuitton. Shoppers queued 1-1/2 meters apart for temperature checks, while flashing “green” mobile telephone codes attesting to a clean bill of health.

“The Wuhan International Plaza is very representative (of the city),” said Zhang Yu, 29. “So its reopening makes me feel this city is coming back to life.”

“Being able to be healthy and leave the house, and meet other colleagues who are also healthy is a very happy thing,” said Wang Xueman, a cosmetics sales representative.

Hubei authorities say 4.6 million people in the province returned to work by Saturday, with 2.8 million of them heading for other parts of China.

Most of the departing migrant workers went to Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.




 

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