A medical worker teaches a patient who contracted the novel coronavirus pneumonia to do acupressure massage to help him recover at the Wuhan pulmonary hospital in Wuhan, Hubei province, March 19, 2020. (Photo/Xinhua)
A senior physician has warned of the potential risk from patients that carry the novel coronavirus but show no symptoms as the Hubei provincial capital city of Wuhan, the Chinese city hit hardest by the epidemic, reported its third straight day of no additional cases.
The city first counted zero new cases on Wednesday. For five consecutive days prior to the day, however, all newly confirmed cases were registered in the medical institute's outpatient services.
This could mean that some infected patients with no symptoms have yet to be found as local authorities are combing through residential communities in the city, said Wu Hao, a member of an expert team dispatched by the National Health Commission to Wuhan.
"We hope daily new infections could stay at zero forever, but some infected patients may still be scattered in some residential communities," he told China Central Television late Friday.
"While some of the infected have yet to show symptoms, some may experience comparatively extended incubation periods. Precautionary measures should be rolled out for this in a bid to contain the transmission sources once they are found," he stressed.
Aside from intensifying screening to comb out the infected, efforts should also be ramped up to help the public enhance their knowledge about the disease so that they could help find the infected and isolate them as soon as possible, he said.
So far, about 80 percent of residential blocks in Wuhan have been listed as epidemic-free communities. Wuhan epidemic control and prevention headquarters decided that residents in these blocks could enjoy outdoor activities in batches at different periods of time though not in gatherings.
Wu said, however, Wuhan has not yet become a low-risk area.
"If all residential blocks can be epidemic-free ones, the public will enjoy even greater space for their outdoor activities. We also look forward to that," he said while answering a question about when Wuhan's lockdown will be lifted.
