Authorities in Kashgar, western China’s Xinjiang province, have initiated a first-level response to a major public health emergency after a garment factory worker was diagnosed with asymptomatic neo-coronavirus infection, and four townships were upgraded to high-risk zones, making this the worst asymptomatic neo-coronavirus infection in China in nearly seven months.
According to Chinese media reports, the Kashgar government plans to test approximately 4.75 million local citizens for the new coronavirus. As of today (Oct. 26) more than 4.47 million people have been sampled, with asymptomatic infections rising to 164, and all those diagnosed are asymptomatic.
According to the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Health Commission, Shufu County in Kashgar found the 17-year-old female villager who worked in the county’s garment factory to be asymptomatic with new coronavirus infection on Oct. 24 when conducting regular testing for “due diligence” personnel.
After being diagnosed, the woman was transferred to Kashgar Hospital for isolation and medical observation. She has no symptoms of fever or cough.
Wang Guangfa, director of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine at Peking University First Hospital, was quoted by the official media Global Times as saying that COVID-19 infected people are usually found positive two days before symptoms appear. Fortunately, most of the patients in the Kashgar outbreak were in the early stages of the virus and the local health authorities responded quickly.
But Wang also warned that this asymptomatic outbreak deserves attention and should not be taken lightly. One patient can infect an average of three people,” he said, “and confirmed asymptomatic infections may have already reached the second or even third generation, which does not rule out the emergence of a super-transmitter.
Yang Gonghuan, former deputy director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that it is impossible to determine the cause of the outbreak, but that it is related to the coming winter and falling temperatures in the region.
Yang explained, “The drop in temperature will increase the activity of COVID-19 virus, which is the pattern of disease.
She stressed that this wave of the epidemic does not mean that Xinjiang’s epidemic prevention has failed, nor is there any certainty that the epidemic will spread on a large scale. Small fluctuations in the epidemic are possible everywhere, but it will never be like the situation in Wuhan in January.
Currently, the towns of Zhanmin, Tokzak, Wekusak, and Saybarg in Shufu County, Kashgar region, have been designated as high-risk areas, and citywide testing for new coronary pneumonia in Kashgar is expected to be completed by Tuesday.
The scale and pace of the testing is consistent with recent regional responses in China that have seen an outbreak backlash, including a citywide nucleic acid test in Qingdao, Shandong Province, earlier this month.
Kashgar is currently unaffected by external traffic, including air, rail and road traffic, and travelers to Kashgar need not be quarantined or required to carry nucleic acid test reports. However, passengers who plan to leave Kashgar need to present a negative nucleic acid test report valid for seven days.
Liu Xiaofeng, deputy director of the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, reminded at a regular press conference today that travelers are advised not to travel to Kashgar unless absolutely necessary.
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