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 The new infections sounded a note of caution amid efforts to ease
coronavirus-related restrictions across China as businesses restart
and individuals get back to work.
Wuhan reported five new confirmed cases, all from the same
residential compound. One was the wife of an 89-year-old patient
reported a day earlier in the first confirmed case in the central
city in more than a month.
"At present, the task of epidemic prevention and control in the city
is still very heavy," the Wuhan health authority said in a
statement.
"We must resolutely contain the risk of a rebound."
All of the latest 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 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, now 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 being monitored.
The numbers of new cases reported in China since April have been
small compared with the thousands confirmed every day in February,
thanks to a nationwide regime of screening, testing and quarantine.
The government said on Friday cinemas, museums and other venues
would gradually be reopened, though restrictions including mandatory
reservations and a limit on numbers of visitors would be in place.
The financial hub of Shanghai has reopened some night spots and Walt
Disney Co <DIS.N> reopened its Shanghai Disneyland park on Monday to
a reduced number of visitors.
New outbreaks in China in the past two months have mainly developed
in residential compounds or at hospitals.
The national health authority called for stronger protocols at
laboratories handling samples of coronavirus strains and human
nucleic acid tests, and said tests should be carried out under
appropriate laboratory settings.
Transport of samples and material that could be infectious must be
strictly managed and accounted for, the National Health Commission
said.
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'WAR-TIME MODE'
Mi Feng, spokesman at the National Health Commission, said new infections in
seven provinces were being traced.
"In the past 14 days, seven provinces have reported new locally transmitted
cases, with cases involving clusters continuing to increase," Mi told a media
briefing, .
"We need to investigate and determine the origin of the infections and
transmission routes."
The northeastern province of Jilin, which on Saturday reported a cluster of
infections in one of its cities, Shulan, reported three additional 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, the mayor of Shulan, which until
the weekend had reported no local cases for more than 70 days.
Shulan has imposed a lockdown on its 600,000 residents since the weekend, with
just one member of a household being allowed out each day to buy necessities.
One of the three cases confirmed in Jilin province on May 10 was from Shulan.
The other two were uncovered through contact tracing of people who were in
contact with earlier Shulan cases.
Nearby Liaoning and Heilongjiang provinces 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 region of
Inner Mongolia involving travellers from abroad.
Across China, the number of new asymptomatic coronavirus cases fell to 12 on May
10 compared with 20 reported a day earlier.
(Reporting by Se Young Lee, Lusha Zhang, Liangping Gao, Roxanne Liu and Ryan
Woo; Editing by Gerry Doyle, Stephen Coates and Lincoln Feast.)
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