China Finds 300 ‘Asymptomatic’ Infections After Testing Entire Population Of Wuhan; Cases Jump In Hong Kong, Tokyo

Summary:

• China finds 300 asymptomatic cases after testing all 10 million people in Wuhan
• Tokyo reports another jump in cases
• Hong Kong extends some restrictions by 2 weeks after finding new cluster
• Singapore plans to roll back strict lockdown
• India, Russia, Brazil report thousands of new cases
• WHO pushes back against Italy’s top viral expert

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The US was convulsed by another night of violence on Monday, with more than a handful of fatalities recorded mostly among the police officers responding to the violence. Meanwhile, in Asia, Singapore announced plans to reopen its economy after a 2-month lockdown, while Hong Kong expressed concerns that its latest cluster of nine new case might be the beginning of a second wave.

According to Nikkei Asian Review, Hong Kong’s chief executive Carrie Lam has expressed concern over a cluster of nine coronavirus infections linked to the first local case discovered in the territory in more than two weeks. Just in case, Lam said Hong Kong would extend its social distancing measures, which had been due to end on June 4, for an additional two weeks.

On Tuesday, public health officials reported another 6 cases of the virus, including four from one housing bloc, bringing the total number of cases in HK to 1,094, along with 4 deaths.

In Wuhan, the epicenter of the global outbreak, an army of Chinese testers and health workers have found no new symptomatic COVID-19 cases after testing the city’s entire population of nearly 10 million, per the NAR. However, they did discover a total of ~300 asymptomatic cases, which shows that even 6 weeks after declaring the city safe and beginning the process of reopening (which is not yet complete), infections still remain.

Elsewhere, Singapore is taking steps to reopen its economy after an outbreak prompted a two-month lockdown that throttled the city-state’s economy. Select businesses and schools resumed operations on Tuesday in a move authorities said would reignite 75% of the economy and bring a third of Singapore’s workers back to their offices and factories.

As more critics slam regulators in the US for trying to push through Gilead’s remdesivir without sufficient testing, India has approved the drug for emergency use to treat COVID-19 patients, following the lead of the US and Japan.

Last night, Brazil reported 11,598 new cases and 623 deaths, bringing its total to 526,447 cases and 29,937 deaths. Russia reported 8,863 new cases of the novel coronavirus, pushing its nationwide total to 423,741, while deaths rose to 5,037 with 182 deaths confirmed in the last 24 hours, the FT reports.

Tokyo confirms 34 new cases of coronavirus infections as schools, shopping malls and gyms reopened after the state of emergency was lifted on May 25. It is the first time since May 14 for the daily number to reach 30 or more. Gov. Yuriko Koike said the Tokyo government will consider issuing its own alerts including measures asking some businesses to close again.

India confirms 8,171 new cases, bringing its total even closer to 200k (198,706) and marking the third straight day of more than 8,000 infections. India’s death toll will hit 5,598 deaths, up 204 over the past 24 hours.

Finally, after one of Italy’s top viral expert declared the outbreak finished in Europe’s third-largest economy, the WHO clapped back that there is no evidence that coronavirus is losing its potency. “We need to be careful. This is still a killer virus,” said Dr. Michael Ryan of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Program at a WHO press briefing late Monday. “There are thousands of people dying every day because of this virus. We need to be exceptionally careful not to create a sense that all of a sudden, the virus has decided of its own volition to be less pathogenic.” His comments came after Dr. Alberto Zangrillo, head of intensive care at Italy’s San Raffaele Hospital in Lombardy, said the latest swabs taken from patients had such low evidence of the presence of the virus that the new coronavirus “clinically no longer exists”.