32 COVID-19 cases discharged in one day in Beijing

Beijing reported zero new confirmed local cases of COVID-19 for Wednesday, the third such day in a row, and 32 patients were discharged from hospital the same day, said Xu Hejian, spokesman for the municipal government, at a news conference on Thursday. 

"The number of recovered patients who were discharged on Wednesday was the biggest in a single day since the first patients (related to the wholesale market outbreak) were discharged on June 29," Xu said.

From June 11 to July 8, the city reported 335 confirmed local cases, of whom 275 are still hospitalized and 60 were discharged from the hospital after recovery, according to Xu.

No new suspected cases and one asymptomatic case were reported for Wednesday.

"Even though the epidemic is contained, risks of infection still exist," Xu said.

Liu Xiaofeng, deputy head of the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said the public should still wear masks and keep social distance. 

"Choose qualified restaurants and try to avoid raw or half-raw dishes when going out for dining," he said.

Jiang Li, director at the department of intensive care at Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, said at the news conference 21 confirmed cases during this cluster were from the 52 asymptomatic cases at the early stage, which means they were incubatory carriers. The other kind of asymptomatic infected persons had no symptoms from the beginning, with positive test results until finally turning negative. 

"The latter group are not patients, strictly speaking," she said. "Since asymptomatic cases don't cough, the infection possibilities through droplet transmission from them are low."