One asymptomatic case diagnosed in Henan city

A man in Puyang, Henan province, was diagnosed as an asymptomatic COVID-19 case on Wednesday, 20 days after he returned to China from abroad, local health authorities said on Thursday.

The 43-year-old man surnamed Zhang arrived in Tianjin from Guinea, a West African nation, on Oct 8 and was taken to a quarantine center in the city, the Puyang health commission said.

According to the commission, Zhang returned to Puyang on Oct 23 after being quarantined for 14 days and testing negative for COVID-19 twice. He tested positive on Tuesday and was diagnosed as an asymptomatic case on Wednesday.

Zhang has been quarantined for medical observation, and so are his close contacts. His contacts' nucleic acid test results were all negative.

On Oct 18, a 50-year-old man surnamed Liu was diagnosed as an asymptomatic case in Yantai, Shandong province, 17 days after he returned to China from Guinea.

Separately, the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region reported 23 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, the regional health commission said on Thursday. The cases, all reported in Shufu county of Kashgar prefecture, were re-categorized from asymptomatic ones as they have begun to show symptoms.

Wang Xijiang, deputy director of the Kashgar center for disease control and prevention, said the county started a second round of nucleic acid tests for all people in the county on Thursday, with 14 people having tested positive by 7 pm on Thursday. They are all close contacts of previous cases and had already been in quarantine.

By Wednesday, Xinjiang had a total of 45 confirmed cases including three in serious condition, and 138 asymptomatic ones, all in Shufu.