(Yicai Global) April 15 -- Wuhan, the former epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak in China, performed nucleic acid tests on 225,999 people in the week from April 8 to 14. It found 130 asymptomatic cases, with a detection rate of 0.0575 percent, according to Wuhan Nucleic Acid Testing Platform figures.

The asymptomatic infections had not spread to anyone else, the city’s Chang Jiang Daily reported on its website today. Health authorities tracked 542 close contacts of the symptom-free cases, and found no asymptomatic infections or confirmed cases, the report added.

The report quoted Wei Sheng, a professor at the School of Public Health at Tongji Medical College, as saying that based on the data published in Wuhan more than 70 days have passed since the screening of asymptomatic infections and their quarantine. If there were symptoms they would have emerged by now, he added, so the contagiousness of this group of people is very limited.

Wei noted that from an epidemiological point of view, a certain number of people who present no symptoms, or even a few confirmed cases, at this stage are in line with the basic law of infectious disease epidemic, and the public need not panic.

He said the public must have a long-term awareness of pandemic prevention and control, wear masks, wash their hands frequently and not gather in crowds. This kind of self-protection will last for a long time, Wei said.

Chinese health authorities said today that 6,764 asymptomatic cases of novel coronavirus infection, including 588 imported ones, had been reported on the mainland as of yesterday.

Editor: Peter Thomas