Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region reports 138 asymptomatic cases of COVID-19

According to an official statement from the Xinjiang Regional Health Authority, all new cases are linked to asymptomatic case family members found on Saturday. However, the source of infection of the first case is unknown, which triggers the fear of social outbreak.

The new outbreak comes two months after Xinjiang’s outbreak of a group of infections in the regional capital, Urunqi, in early August. Kashgar is conducting citywide tests and expects to test the entire city population of 4.7 million by Tuesday. Xinjiang officials said the prefecture had launched a high-level emergency response and sent teams of experts to carry out medical work in the prefecture’s Shufu County, where the cases live.