Wuhan, the former epicentre of China’s coronavirus outbreak, said it discharged its final 12 patients on Sunday, declaring all hospitals in the city free of Covid-19 after nearly four months of intense control measures to contain the virus.

This is the latest step on the path of recovery after the city lifted a two-month lockdown on April 8, reopening its borders as businesses gradually come back online.

Sunday was also the first time in close to five months that Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital, reported no new suspected or confirmed cases.

A special task force from the central government yesterday left Wuhan after nearly three months in the city, a signal that the province has now adjusted its coronavirus response towards a “regular level” from an “extraordinary emergency”, said the official Xinhua news agency.

Yet this comes barely 10 days after China revised its coronavirus death tolls upwards. Now, weeks after the government started releasing figures for asymptomatic patients, there remain concerns about the situation.

It must be noted that no patients in hospital does not mean there are no infected people in Wuhan.

The health authorities are still worried about a second wave of infections in the rest of the country, with clusters in the north-eastern Heilongjiang province close to the Russian border, and cases still surfacing in the southern-most Guangzhou province.

A partial ban on foreigners entering the country remains while Beijing yesterday urged residents not to travel during the upcoming Labour Day holidays or they would face quarantine upon their return.

In announcing the Wuhan figures, National Health Commission spokesman Mi Feng said an “important stage” had been reached in containing the virus but noted that there are still nearly a thousand asymptomatic patients under “medical observation”, calling for exhaustive testing for the virus across the country.

Official figures show there are still 974 such patients but offer no breakdown on where they are.

These figures were only reported from April 1, as the authorities sought to “allay public concerns”.

Earlier this month, the head of Wuhan’s leading infectious diseases hospital said the city still had more than 100 of these patients, whose cases continue to confound doctors.

Many have been in hospital for nearly two months and no longer show any symptoms, but continue to test positive for the virus.

According to official guidelines, patients have to exhibit symptoms such as fever, cough or weakness, or have a CT scan showing lesions in their lungs, along with a positive test for the virus, before they can be considered a confirmed case.

It is unclear whether patients who no longer exhibit symptoms are recategorised.

Asymptomatic patients, usually tested because they are close contacts of confirmed cases, have been put under quarantine and are recategorised when they exhibit symptoms.

No matter the numbers, there still is a deficit of trust when it comes to figures from the Chinese health authorities because of missteps like the initial cover-up of cases and the recent revision of the death toll, said Associate Professor Alfred Wu from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

“They are trying to paint a picture to show the world that they have the entire situation under control so there can be a celebratory mode during the ‘two sessions’,” he said.

The annual meetings of the National People’s Congress, China’s Parliament, and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the country’s top advisory body, are known as the “two sessions”. These are likely to be held in the next two months.

“I don’t think they can massage the numbers forever, let’s wait until after the two sessions,” Prof Wu said.

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