National health body dispatches team to help Dalian fight COVID-19

The National Health Commission sent a working group to Dalian, Liaoning province, to guide control of COVID-19 on Tuesday, the commission said on Friday.

Dalian reported seven new confirmed cases and one asymptomatic infection on Thursday. One confirmed patient was previously an asymptomatic case, the Liaoning provincial health commission said on Friday.

The port city has reported 19 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 20 asymptomatic infections as of Thursday, since fresh infections emerged on Dec 15.

The city is conducting citywide nucleic acid testing for COVID-19 for around three days, starting Tuesday. 

The working group, led by head of the health emergency office, consists of 10 experts in medical management, epidemiology, virology, disease prevention and control, and health emergency.

Epidemiological work is underway with testing, big data and gene sequence analysis.

Epidemic prevention and control measures are being fully and orderly implemented in the city.

Meanwhile, the provincial capital Shenyang reported a new asymptomatic case on Thursday, the granddaughter of the city's latest confirmed patient, a 67-year-old woman who had recently returned from South Korea, according to the city's health commission.