People are queuing to take nucleic acid tests in the old town of Kashi, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, on Saturday. Photo: VCG

Kashi of Northwest China's Xinjiang Autonomous Region recorded 26 asymptomatic COVID-19 infections from 4pm Sunday to 4pm Monday, city officials announced at a daily press conference.

The 26 new cases were found in Shufu county, Kashi, where the first asymptomatic case in the new outbreak was detected on Saturday, said Wang Xijiang, deputy director of Kashi Center of Disease Prevention and Control.

They had close contact with the Sunday asymptomatic cases, the official said.

Kashi has finished sample taking for nucleic acid tests from more than 4,471,700 residents, and more than 2.13 million of them have received testing results.

 Positive testing results were only found from the 26 new asymptomatic cases in Shufu county reported on Monday, and the rest remains negative.  

Kashi reported 137 new asymptomatic cases on Sunday, all related to the first case. Local officials said they are still trying to determine the source of the infection, and all 164 cases recorded so far were linked to a clothing factory in Shufu county.

According to the local officials, due to the timely nucleic test and early discovery of infection, patients have shown no symptoms. 

Beijing officials said on Monday that all travelers from Kashi must present negative results of nucleic acid tests taken within seven days before entering the capital.