China recorded the highest number of cases in a day in more than five months, according to the National Health Commission, with three cities closed in an attempt to prevent another wave of infections in the world’s second largest economy.
Most of the new patients registered in Tuesday’s statistics were close to the capital, Beijing, but a province in northeastern China also recorded an increase in new cases, official data released on Wednesday showed.
The National Health Commission said in a statement that 115 new confirmed cases were reported on the continent on January 12, compared with 55 the previous day. This was also the biggest daily increase since July 30. On Sunday there were also a large number of cases, with 103 new cases.
The commission said that 107 of the new cases were local infections. Hebei, the province surrounding Beijing, was responsible for 90 of the cases, while Heilongjiang province in the northeast reported 16 new cases.
Hebei put three cities – Shijiazhuang, Xingtai and Langfang – in blockade as part of efforts to prevent the virus from spreading further, while Beijing city officials stepped up screening and prevention measures to prevent the development of another cluster.
The number of new asymptomatic daily cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, has dropped from 81 cases to 38.
The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in mainland China now stands at 87,706, while the death toll has remained unchanged at 4,634.
The number of new cases reported in the past few days remains a fraction of what China saw at the height of the outbreak in early 2020. The increase in cases occurs when a team assembled by the World Health Organization to investigate the origins of the virus is preparing to arrive Wuhan, the city at the center of the global outbreak.
China’s Foreign Ministry confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that the team would fly directly to Wuhan. Spokesman Zhao Lijian did not answer questions about whether the team would be quarantined and gave no further details.
The WHO delegation of scientists tasked with researching the origins of the virus is due to arrive in China on Thursday, after almost a year of negotiations. They hoped to travel to Wuhan and talk to scientists on the ground, but Chinese officials are reluctant to detail and nothing has been confirmed.
Members of the WHO team began to leave their countries of origin at the beginning of last week, only to find that the Chinese authorities had not finalized the necessary permits. WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was “very disappointed”, but Chinese officials said the two sides were still in discussions.
The research mission is a priority for WHO and has broad international support. However, observers asked people to manage expectations that the team would come to any conclusions about the trip, and the researchers said the mission is not to blame.
“It is about reducing the risk. And the media can help by avoiding pointing a finger Trump-style. Our work is not political, ”said Fabian Leendertz, professor of epidemiology of highly pathogenic microorganisms at the public health agency in Germany, and part of the team.