SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Mainland China saw its biggest daily increase in COVID-19 cases in more than five months, the country’s national health authority said on Monday, as new infections in Hebei province surrounding Beijing continued to rise.
Hebei accounted for 82 of the 85 new local infections reported on Jan. 10, the National Health Commission said in a statement, with Liaoning Province also reporting two new cases and Beijing reporting one new case. The country also saw 18 new imported infections from overseas.
The total number of new COVID-19 cases stood at 103, the highest since 127 cases were reported on July 30.
Though the new cases being reported in recent days remain a small fraction of what the country saw at the height of the outbreak in early 2020, authorities are moving aggressively to curb the spread of the disease in order to prevent another national wave of infections.
Shijiazhuang, Hebei’s capital and epicentre of the new outbreak in the province, is in lockdown with people and vehicles barred from leaving the city as authorities move to curb the spread of the disease. Public transport in the city has also been halted.
The commission also reported 76 new asymptomatic patients, up from 27 a day earlier. China does not count these individuals, who are infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the disease but not exhibiting symptoms, as confirmed COVID-19 cases.
Total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in mainland China now stands at 87,536, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,634.
(Reporting by Jing Wang and Josh Horwitz; writing by Se Young Lee; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Michael Perry)
