China reports 33 new coronavirus cases; spike in asymptomatic infections in Wuhan

China has reported 33 new coronavirus cases, including 31 asymptomatic ones, majority of them in Wuhan, the first epicentre of the COVID-19 where the city's 11 million people are being tested in order to prevent a second wave of the deadly virus, health authorities said on Thursday.

According to China's National Health Commission (NHC), two confirmed coronavirus cases, including one imported infection, was reported on Thursday in Guangdong province and a locally transmitted one in Shanghai on Wednesday.

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But there was a spike in asymptomatic cases. The NHC said 31 asymptomatic cases were reported of which 28 of them were in Wuhan.

Wednesday’s addition takes the number of asymptomatic cases in the country to 375, according to the NHC data.

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In Wuhan itself 281 people with asymptomatic symptoms along with 861 of those who came in contact with them were kept under quarantine, local health commission said.

Asymptomatic cases pose a problem as the patients 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.

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In view of the recurring asymptomatic cases, Wuhan which had 50,340 cases and 3,869 deaths from January to March this year is conducting a major campaign to test all of its over 11.2 million people to determine the extent of the problem in order to prevent a rebound.

Altogether 4,634 people had died of the COVID-19 in China so far.

As of Wednesday, the overall confirmed cases on the mainland have reached 82,967, including 84 patients who were still being treated, the NHC said.