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China’s first report of coronavirus symptom-free carriers shows 130 new cases
- National Health Commission releases number for first time after public and international pressure
- The move follows in the footsteps of South Korea and the World Health Organisation
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China reported 130 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases on Wednesday, including the category in its daily count for the first time after pressure from the Chinese public and international health experts.
The National Health Commission said the cases took the total number of people in the country under medical observation with symptom-free infections to 1,367.
A day earlier, China said it had 1,541 asymptomatic carriers as of Monday, of which 205 were imported from overseas. Of these, 302 were removed from the total on Wednesday as they were no longer under medical observation, according to the commission.
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The commission said it would report regularly on the number of coronavirus carriers who displayed no medical symptoms, amid mounting concerns about the accuracy of China’s caseload data.
In addition to the asymptomatic patients, there were 36 new infections of coronavirus in China as of Tuesday, of which 35 were imported cases.
In all, 81,554 people have been infected in mainland China since January when the country began making its infection numbers public.
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