Hebei confirms 35 new local COVID-19 cases

Hebei province identified 35 new local confirmed COVID-19 cases and two asymptomatic carriers on Monday, increasing its caseload of confirmed patients to 800 and asymptomatic carriers under medical observation to 168, the Health Commission of Hebei reported on Tuesday morning.

The number of confirmed cases for a single-day's rise in the province has fallen for three consecutive days, down from 54 on Sunday, 72 on Saturday and 90 on Friday.

The province also discharged four COVID-19 patients and three asymptomatic carriers from hospitals and quarantine centers who had recovered on Monday, increasing the total recoveries to 38 since Jan 13 when the first recoveries were discharged.

All the new confirmed cases and asymptomatic results are in Shijiazhuang and 13 of the confirmed cases were previously diagnosed as asymptomatic carriers, the commission said.

Most of the new confirmed cases are still in villages of the city's Gaocheng district, with the eldest being 91 years old. One of the confirmed cases once did voluntary work at Xiaoguozhuang, the worst-hit village in the district.

The province has reported new cases for 17 consecutive days since this new outbreak of COVID-19 started in the beginning of the year. Residents in Shijiazhuang have stayed at home for self-quarantine for nearly half a month. Previous information by local government said the measure will last till Tuesday.