China reports 16 new Covid cases as fresh Wuhan cluster emerges amid fears of second wave

China reported one new coronavirus case and 15 asymptomatic infections, a day after a fresh COVID-19 cluster emerged in Wuhan, where the virus first emerged. China's National Health Commission (NHC) on Tuesday said one imported case was recorded in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Monday while no local infections were reported.

Chinese experts are reassuring the public over concerns regarding a potential second wave of the epidemic, after clustered infections of COVID-19 have re-emerged in two provinces, state-run Global Times reported on Tuesday. The experts called such sporadic cases as normal for major infectious diseases.

Despite the increasing number of new infection cases, Chinese medical experts said that clustered infections in Wuhan, Hubei Province and Shulan, Jilin Province are sporadic and don't imply a second wave is looming. After the clustered infections emerged, officials from both Jilin and Hubei provinces are ramping up efforts to trace close contacts while adopting lockdown measures to contain the infection from spreading to wider regions, the report said.

Since Sunday, Wuhan has reported a total of six new cases of COVID-19, all of which are from the same local community. The ruling Communist Party of China has sacked a local official on Monday for negligence. Shulan city in Jilin Province bordering North Korea on Sunday imposed martial law after a sudden spike in coronavirus cases. The city reported 11 cases on Saturday and three more on Sunday.

Also on Monday, 15 new asymptomatic cases were reported in the country taking the total number of cases to 760, the NHC said. In Wuhan, 606 asymptomatic cases were under medical observation, the local health commission said on Tuesday. Asymptomatic cases refer to people who 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. The death toll from coronavirus in China remains at 4,633 with fatalities last reported on Monday, while the total number of cases increased to 82,919, including 115 patients still undergoing treatment in hospital.