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Coronavirus China
ChinaPolitics

Coronavirus: China reports 96 new infections, links superspreader to 102 asymptomatic cases

  • Authorities in Jilin province say superspreader is a 45-year-old man who has been touring the region giving lectures on health
  • Saturday’s new case total for whole of China is the first below 100 in five days

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A 45-year-old man has been linked to more than 100 asymptomatic Covid-19 infections in China’s Jilin province. Photo: Getty Images
Su-Lin Tan
China reported 96 new Covid-19 infections on Saturday and 119 asymptomatic cases, of which more than half were linked to a superspreader in the northeast of the country, health authorities said.
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Jilin province, which borders North Korea, reported 63 of the asymptomatic cases, all but one of them related to a 45-year-old tutor who had been touring the region giving lectures on health, the provincial health commission said on Saturday.

The man has now been linked to 102 cases in the province, the Jilin health commission said at a press conference on Sunday.

Contact tracing revealed that the unnamed man boarded trains in Harbin – the capital of Heilongjiang province – and Changchun, Tonghua and Gongzhuling in Jilin before being identified. He was first thought to be an asymptomatic carrier – which China does not include in its tally of infections – but was later confirmed as a case.

The National Health Commission (NHC) said on Saturday that the recent outbreaks in northeastern China were the result of imported cases and contaminated frozen and chilled foods, though it did not provide any evidence to support its claims.

“Since December 2020, epidemic clusters have occurred in Beijing, Sichuan, Liaoning, Hebei and Heilongjiang,” NHC chief Ma Xiaowei said in a statement.

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“They mainly have the following characteristics: firstly, they are all imported from abroad, caused by travellers from overseas, or contaminated cold-chain imported items.”

Ma said also that the latest Covid-19 outbreak, which came after months of China thinking it had the disease under control – was spreading quickest in rural areas, fuelled by large gatherings such as weddings.
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