A crowded street corner on the night of June 3 in Wuhan, capital of Central China’s Hubei Province. Photo: IC

Wuhan, the city hit hardest by COVID-19 announced that no "living virus" had been detected in any of the 300 asymptomatic infections screened during its citywide test, which experts said further cemented the city's victory against virus, proving to the outside world that Wuhan is safe.

Health officials took sputum and throat swabs from 300 asymptomatic infections for their citywide test, and then isolated and cultured the "virus" from the samples at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The results found that no "living virus" had developed in the samples. 

Experts said this indicated that the virus load/levels were either extremely low or that there was no presence of any "living virus" within the pathogenic from the samples taken. 

Officials also ran tests on toothbrushes, cups, masks, towels, other personal items used by the infected patients, and found that they tested negative. All 1,174 close contacts of the patients also tested negative, which experts said proved that the city's silent carriers are not contagious. 

The results also offer assurances to the outside world that Wuhan is safe, shrugging off earlier concerns that asymptomatic patients pose a threat to the city. 

Before releasing the results, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said that Wuhan was added as a standby first entry point for international flights to Beijing. Flights between Wuhan and Beijing will resume on Tuesday and will include one daily round-trip flight from Wuhan Tianhe airport to Beijing Daxing International Airport, according to Wuhan's traffic authority.

The results also reveal that Wuhan can resume normal exchanges with the outside world and increase its recovery pace as the city returns to normal, experts said.