Coronavirus: China ‘must detect asymptomatic cases’ to prevent Lunar New Year spread
- The country’s chief epidemiologist says the most important measure this winter is to stop people without symptoms spreading the virus
- Huge numbers are expected to travel for the Spring Festival in February
“As long as there are no coronavirus cases among those travelling, then there will not be large-scale transmission,” he was quoted as saying by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. “So the focus is on testing and detection of asymptomatic patients, regularly testing groups that are at high risk, and detecting those who may have been exposed to or infected by the virus but show no symptoms.”
The focus on effective testing during the holidays came after Zeng Guang, the CDC’s former chief epidemiologist, told media on Monday that the government’s epidemic controls could prevent major outbreaks but that people should still limit large indoor gatherings, maintain good personal hygiene and wear face masks.
Wu on Tuesday sought to reassure against concerns that the coronavirus was resurging during the winter, which he said was a normal occurrence for infectious respiratory diseases and a trend that had been seen around the world. There have been more than 72 million Covid-19 cases globally, causing more than 1.6 million deaths.
“During the winter, most countries saw a large rebound in coronavirus and the number of people infected and goods contaminated with the virus have increased,” Wu said. “But there is no need to be overly worried, since the sporadic outbreak of the virus [in China] is normal.”