BEIJING (Reuters) – China has reported the highest number of daily COVID-19 cases in more than ten months, official data showed Friday due to a severe outbreak in the northeast that put more than 28 million people under lock-in.
A total of 144 new COVID-19 cases were reported on January 14, the National Health Commission said in a statement, compared to 138 cases a day earlier and this is the highest daily increase since 202 cases reported on March 1.
The total number of cases remains well below what China saw during the outbreak in early 2020, but concerns about a new wave across the country are growing with a major national holiday a month away, and estimates of 296 million rail passenger journeys during the Lunar New Year break.
The commission said 135 of the new cases were local infections, 90 of which were worst in the Hebei province around Beijing in the latest wave. Another 43 cases were reported in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, with Guangxi and Shaanxi provinces each reporting one confirmed case.
This boom comes as a team of researchers led by the World Health Organization (WHO) in quarantine in the city of Wuhan, where the disease first emerged at the end of 2019. The team aims to investigate the origins of the pandemic that has now killed nearly 2. million people worldwide.
The delegation, which was delayed in authorizing Beijing to enter the country, suffered another setback on Thursday when two of its members had to stay behind in Singapore after testing positive for coronavirus antibodies.
China is currently dealing with all overseas travelers to deliver a negative result in a nucleic acid test and a negative serum IgM antibody test within 48 hours of accession as part of its COVID-19 prevention efforts.
The two members tested negative for the nucleic acid test, but positive for immunoglobulin M, from IgM, antibodies and were prevented from presenting the flight with the rest of the team. IgM antibodies develop rapidly after an infection and their presence may indicate that an active infection is still ongoing.
The WHO said the two individuals would be tested again.
TRAVEL DISCOURAGED
Authorities are urging the public to refrain from non-essential travel next month during the lunar New Year holiday when hundreds of millions of Chinese people normally go home or travel.
Heilongjiang, which has already declared a COVID-19 emergency, urged its 37.5 million people to remain silent during the break and avoid gatherings.
“The calls made by central and local authorities to avoid people traveling through the region during the holidays are sensible and essential, because they are based on science and first-hand experience,” the official China Daily newspaper said in an editorial. which was published Friday.
“It’s not just about protecting ourselves and our families, but also about averting a clear and present danger to our immediate and wider communities.”
X Wenxin, vice president of China Railway, expects about 296 million rail passengers during the lunar New Year holiday, Xinhua reported Friday, compared to 410 million in 2019 – the last time there were no major travel restrictions during the holiday.
The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, dropped to 66 from 78 a day earlier.
The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases on mainland China now stands at 87,988, while the death toll has remained unchanged at 4,635.
The commission’s daily count does not exclude cases reported in Macau and Hong Kong, which are Chinese territories, but reports their numbers separately. The commission excludes cases in Taiwan, the self-governing island that China claims is its own.
(Reported by Brenda Goh in Shanghai and Cate Cadell in Beijing; Written by Se Young Lee; Edited by Tom Hogue and Michael Perry)