East China's Anhui Province reported a COVID-19 spike on Saturday with 61 confirmed cases and 231 asymptomatic cases detected, the largest number of daily infections since the outbreak began in the province.

As a great deal of anti-epidemic measures have been taken, the outbreak is generally controllable and spillover risk is low, according to local epidemic-control officials.

Among the newly-reported cases, 60 confirmed and 228 asymptomatic were from the Sixian county, the focal point of this round of outbreak in Anhui. In Sixian, 187 of the cases were detected among quarantined population and the rest were screened out from medium- and high-risk regions.

Sixian county, home to 962,000 people, announced that a fresh round of mass nucleic acid testing will be rolled out on Sunday. The county is no stranger to mass testing as it underwent the procedure already five times in the past.

An official from the Anhui provincial epidemic command center told media that the outbreak is generally controllable. Though the source of the epidemic in Sixian is still unclear, the local government has taken epidemic control measures right away, including imposing a static management throughout the county and asking people to stay indoors.

No spillovers have been found since the epidemic was first reported on June 26. A total of 9,136 people who have visited Sixian since June 10 have been tracked within Anhui Province. Close contacts in other cities of the province have been quarantined and tested, and officials believe the spillover risk can be curbed.

But the detection of new cases among medium- and high-risk regions and close contacts indicate that the COVID-19 outbreak is still at a critical stage. Resources throughout the province have been mobilized to cut off the virus spread.

As of now, Lei Haichao, a deputy director of National Health Commission, has led an expert team to Sixian county.

Global Times