China reports 23 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases, mostly in Wuhan
Beijing: China has reported two new confirmed coronavirus cases, both from abroad and 23 asymptomatic ones, majority of them from COVID-19 epicentre Wuhan, health officials said on Thursday.
According to the China's National Health Commission (NHC), two imported cases - one in Shanghai and the other in Fujian were reported on Wednesday, while no cases of domestic transmission were reported.
However, on Wednesday 23 new asymptomatic cases were reported in the country of which 19 were from Wuhan, the first epicentre of the deadly coronavirus.
In all, 413 asymptomatic cases, including 344 from Wuhan were under medical observation.
Wuhan, where six new confirmed cases came to light after the 76-day lockdown was lifted in April, has reported a number of asymptomatic cases prompting the city officials to conduct mass testing of all of its 11.2 million population.
So far over 6.5 million people have been tested, according to official media reports.
Asymptomatic cases pose a problem as the patients are tested COVID-19 positive but develop no symptoms such as fever, cough or sore throat. However, they pose a risk of spreading the disease to others.
As of Wednesday, a total of 82,995 confirmed COVID-19 cases had been reported in China and the death toll stood at 4,634, the NHC said.
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Rupee falls 21 paise to 91.29 against US dollar in early trade
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Mumbai (PTI): The rupee depreciated 21 paise to 91.29 against the US dollar on Monday, amid higher crude oil prices, a strong American currency and intense global volatility due to the escalated Middle East tension.
Negative equity market sentiment and massive withdrawal of foreign funds also weighed on the Indian currency, forex traders said.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 91.23 and declined further to 91.29 against the greenback in initial deals, trading 21 paise down from its previous closing level.
On Friday, the rupee lost 17 paise to settle at 91.08 against the dollar.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.22 per cent higher at 97.78.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was up 3.91 per cent at 76.78 per barrel in futures trade.
Analysts said that crude prices soared after the US and Israel launched military strikes against Iran.
In the latest strike, the US and Israel forces pounded targets across Iran on Sunday, dropping massive bombs on the country's ballistic missile sites and wiping out warships. The attack was intensified after the killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Experts say that India faces the risk of a sharp increase in its import bill with the rising crude prices in the international market as the country's 85 per cent fuel requirement is met through imports.
On the domestic equity market front, the Sensex tumbled 691.47 points or 0.85 per cent to 80,595.72, while Nifty tanked 240.95 points or 0.96 per cent to 24,937.70 in early trade.
On Friday, foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 7,536.36 crore, according to exchange data.
According to the government data released on Friday following a revamp of the GDP calculation framework, the country's economic growth has been projected at 7.6 per cent in the currency fiscal.
The latest RBI data released on Friday showed India's forex reserve dropped by USD 2.119 billion to USD 723.608 billion during the week ended February 20. The overall reserves had jumped by USD 8.663 billion to an all-time high of USD 725.727 billion in the previous reporting week.
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