Shanghai reports 3 local asymptomatic COVID-19 cases

SHANGHAI, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- East China's Shanghai registered three locally transmitted asymptomatic COVID-19 infections on Saturday, the municipal health commission said Sunday.

All three cases are close contacts of a confirmed locally transmitted case reported on Thursday. They tested positive for COVID-19 while under medical observation, said the commission.

A total of 22 close contacts of the three asymptomatic cases have been tracked and placed under quarantine. Disinfection has been conducted in venues where the cases have recently been.

Shanghai reported two confirmed locally transmitted COVID-19 cases and three asymptomatic cases on Thursday. Four of the cases are close contacts of an imported asymptomatic case reported on Tuesday, while the other case is the sibling of a close contact, and they lived together.

A bubble tea shop in Shanghai's Jing'an District, the workplace of the two confirmed cases, has been classified as a medium-risk area for COVID-19.

Zhang Wenhong, head of the Center for Infectious Diseases with the Shanghai-based Huashan Hospital of Fudan University, said on Saturday that all new cases in Shanghai were found during the screening of close contacts, and the number of cases is very limited, thus forming a "closed-loop."