Most COVID-19 cases in northeast China's Jilin have mild symptoms

A medical worker takes a swab sample from a resident for nucleic acid test at a COVID-19 testing site in Changchun, northeast China's Jilin Province, March 21, 2022. (Photo by Zhang Yang/Xinhua)

CHANGCHUN, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Northeast China's Jilin Province has logged more than 20,000 local confirmed cases in the latest round of outbreak, with most of those treated in hospital showing mild symptoms, according to the provincial health commission.

On Wednesday, the province recorded over 2,500 asymptomatic or confirmed cases, the commission said.

Zhang Li, deputy director of the commission, said over 98 percent of the cases treated in hospital have mild symptoms.

Changchun, the provincial capital, began a new round of citywide nucleic acid testing on Thursday. Wang Ao, deputy director of the Jilin provincial center for disease control and prevention, said the Omicron variant strains are more stealthy and highly transmissible, showing no obvious symptoms or even being asymptomatic.

"Multiple rounds of nucleic acid testing are needed to screen out positive cases as soon as possible, and control measures should be adopted to effectively contain the epidemic," Wang noted.

According to Zhang, more new rooms were added in the province to house people testing positive for COVID-19.