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Covid-19: Asymptomatic cases outnumber active ones in China

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Virendra Pandit

 

New Delhi: China finds it difficult to achieve its zero-case targets, despite taking stringent measures against the pandemic’s spread, as asymptomatic cases of Covid-19 are outnumbering active ones, media reported on Tuesday.

Officially, China reported a minimum of 12 asymptomatic cases every day during the last one week, mostly found during routine checkups of workers and citizens. This means the Delta sub-variants are no longer detectable as they produce no identifiable symptoms.

China is so worried that its officials are now offering cash to those reporting fresh infections. Declaring a “People’s War” against the pandemic, the authorities announced the 100,000 yuan ($15,640) rewards for residents in Heihe, in the north-eastern Heilongjiang Province bordering Russia, as its total tally of cases in this outbreak reached 240.

The Asian country reported more infections in people who showed no symptoms of the Covid-19 virus than in those who exhibited, showing the challenge China faces in eliminating the highly infectious and insidious pathogen.

According to reports, of the 89 patients found over the last week, 46 had no outward signs of disease. It is the first time those with covert infections outnumbered those with symptoms during the broadest outbreak that China has reported since the virus first emerged in Wuhan in late 2019, the media reported.

Of the 31 provinces on the Chinese mainland, 20 have reported infections caused by the dreaded Delta variant, including in the national capital Beijing.

At present, China is the only country trying to weed out every single infection within its borders, defying a global trend of learning to live with Covid-19 after more infectious variants rendered restrictions less effective and made its elimination more difficult.

In several countries, massive vaccination drives and the rollout of booster shots have significantly reduced the burden of the disease, with most fully vaccinated people developing mild or no symptoms if they contract the first infection.

“It’s different now than in 2020 because the consequences of infection, particularly if you’re vaccinated, are less marked than they were then,” said Peter Collignon, an infectious disease physician, and professor at the Australian National University Medical School in Canberra.

While China has witnessed severe disease among elderly patients with existing comorbidities, the nation has not officially reported a single death related to Covid-19 since February 2021. With over three-fourths of its population fully vaccinated, most new patients experienced only mild symptoms.

They found several asymptomatic infections only after officials discovered them during routine testing of workers and residents. That alerted them about a potential community transmission. Sometimes, close contacts of such patients tested positive after they emerged from prolonged quarantine periods.

“It’s more difficult to control now,” Collignon said. “But equally, the consequences — providing you get high levels of vaccination — are much, much less than they were a year ago.”

Clearly, the Dragon faces a huge potential challenge from Delta!