China reports 49 new coronavirus cases vs 24 a day earlier
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China reported 49 new COVID-19 cases for Nov. 2, up from 24 a day earlier, the national health authority reported on Tuesday.
The National Health Commission said in a statement 44 of the new cases were imported infections originating from overseas and the other five were locally transmitted cases in the northwestern Xinjiang region.
Among the 44 imported cases, four were on a flight to the central city of Wuhan from New Delhi, India. The South Asian nation has the second-most number of coronavirus cases in the world, after the United States.
They were the city's first imported cases since Aug. 1.
The commission also reported 61 new asymptomatic cases, compared with 30 a day earlier. Of the total, 19 were passengers on the same flight from New Delhi to Wuhan, where the virus first emerged last year.
Xinjiang region reported 13 new local asymptomatic cases. Authorities in the region conducted large scale testing after a recent outbreak.
China does not classify symptomless patients as confirmed COVID-19 cases.
The total number of confirmed cases in China now stands at 86,070, while the death toll remains unchanged at 4,634.
(Reporting by Engen Tham and Wang Jing in Shanghai; Liangping Gao in Beijing, Editing by Kim Coghill and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
