China to include symptom-free coronavirus carriers in national figures
- The National Health Commission says it will start to include asymptomatic cases in its Covid-19 statistics in move to address public concern
- Classified government data has suggested that silent carriers could make up around a third of cases
China will include asymptomatic coronavirus carriers in its daily figures from Wednesday, its National Health Commission said on Tuesday.
Officials said the new measures would help to address growing public concerns about the risks of infection with Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, brought about by these silent carriers.
The commission added that it already required local health workers to report these cases through the central communicable disease report system.
The commission also revealed for the first time that as of Monday, there were 1,541 asymptomatic carriers under medical observation in mainland China, including 205 imported cases.
That compared with 2,161 Covid-19 patients who are still hospitalised and another 183 suspected cases.
The announcement follows Monday’s meeting of the central government’s Covid-19 leading group chaired by Premier Li Keqiang, who instructed officials to be more proactive in investigating the extent of these silent carriers.