China reached a milestone this week, with no new coronavirus deaths reported on its mainland for the first time since January — as authorities in Wuhan get set to allow healthy residents to travel from the epicenter of the outbreak.
Wuhan saw no new COVID-19-related deaths as of Monday —- joining the rest of the country, which hasn’t recorded any since March 31, according to the country’s National Health Commission.
A total of 32 new infections were reported in China Monday, down from 39 a day earlier, according to the commission.
Wuhan only reported two new infections in the past two weeks, and is set to finally permit healthy residents to leave Wednesday — the first time since the capital city of 11 million was placed on lockdown Jan. 23.
Authorities last month began lifting restrictions on Wuhan residents — designating more than 7,000 residential compounds “epidemic-free,” allowing residents to spend up to two hours at a time outside, The Guardian reported.
But on Monday, the all-clear designations were revoked for 45 compounds, in part because of the emergence of asymptomatic cases, the outlet reported.
Asymptomatic cases were not included until this month in the country’s tally of confirmed infections — though they account for about 18 to 31 percent of cases, Shanghai-based infectious disease doctor Zhang Wenhong told the paper.
A total of 81,740 coronavirus cases and 3,331 deaths had been reported in China as of Monday, the health commission confirmed. The tally includes 30 new asymptomatic cases — 18 of those in Hubei. Nine of the asymptomatic cases involved incoming travelers.
With Post Wires
