Wuhan reports cluster of COVID-19 cases; authorities fear worst

New Delhi: The epicentre of COVID-19 outbreak in the world, Wuhan in China, on Monday reported a fresh cluster of coronavirus cases since the lockdown to control the spread of infection was lifted in April, causing mass fear of a second resurgence of the disease around the globe.

The new cases of COVID-19 in Wuhan raises questions on the efforts to lower lockdown restrictions across China as businesses limp back to normalcy and people resume their daily work.

In the fresh cluster of cases, Wuhan reported five new confirmed COVID-19 infections all of whom reside in a residential complex in the city of 11 million people in Hubei province. One of them is the wife of an 89-year-old man who was reported as positive a day earlier and became the first positive patient in Wuhan since the lifting of lockdown on April 3.

All of the freshly detected cases after the lifting of lockdown in Wuhan are asymptomatic which means the patients are infected with the virus but are not showing any symptoms of the disease like fever and cough.

The count of asymptomatic cases in China is still unknown as only the cases that appear in the radar of health officials are tested as part of contact tracing and random health checkups.

Hundreds of asymptomatic cases around China are being monitored by health officials after people from Wuhan travelled to many other provinces since the lockdown was lifted on April 3.

In its overall tally of confirmed cases, China doesn’t include asymptomatic cases until they exhibit clinical signs of infection. As of now, China’s overall tally of confirmed cases is at 89,918, including 4,633 deaths.