China reports 16 new coronavirus cases

China has reported 16 new coronavirus infections, including 15 asymptomatic cases, in the first COVID-19 epicentre Wuhan, where all the 11.2 million population is being tested for the virus, health authorities said on Wednesday.

China's National Health Commission (NHC) said five confirmed case and 16 asymptomatic cases were reported on Tuesday.

Four locally transmitted cases were reported in Jilin Province. Jilin city is under lockdown after clusters of infections were reported last week.

By Tuesday, Jilin province had reported a total of 133 confirmed locally transmitted cases, including two deaths and 106 who had been discharged from hospital after recovery.

There are still 25 patients receiving treatment in hospital, with three in severe condition, all in the city of Jilin, and 1,181 people in close contact with the locally transmitted cases under medical observation, the local health commission said.

Also 16 new asymptomatic cases were reported on Tuesday, including 15 in Wuhan. NHC said 368 asymptomatic cases were under observation.

Asymptomatic cases pose a problem as the patients are tested COVID-19 positive but develop no symptoms such as fever, cough or sore throat. However, they pose a risk of spreading the disease to others.

Altogether 4,634 people had died of the disease.

As of Tuesday, the overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 82,965, including 87 patients who were still being treated, NHC said.

Globally, the coronavirus cases touched 4,897,492 with 323,285 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.