Xinjiang records record-high COVID-19 recoveries

The effectiveness of the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 infections in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region is showing, as the region has recorded its largest number of daily cases discharged from hospitals on Monday.

Cui Yan, director of the region's disease control and prevention center, said 12 people had recovered and were discharged on Monday, bringing the total number of discharged to 42 since the first discharged case on July 28.

In addition to the largest discharged number, officials in Urumqi, the region's capital, indicated the treatment cycle of the recently discharged has been shortened during a virus control and prevention conference on Tuesday.

According to Lu Chen, vice president of the region's No. 6 People's Hospital, a designated hospital specializing in contagious diseases, the cycle shortened not only because of medical workers gaining more treatment experience during the outbreak, but also the effective measures taken by the hospital.

"The measures such as the establishment of an evaluation and consultation system for experts, integration of the best medical resources in the region and introduction of advanced medical equipment, are improving the treatment efficiency," Lu said.

Epidemiological investigation of the locally transmitted COVID-19 cases in Xinjiang has started since the local outbreak began on July 15. During the conference on Tuesday, Cui said the recent rebound of COVID-19 cases in Xinjiang comes from the same source.

"After genetic sequencing on previous confirmed cases, we found the outbreak was caused by exposure to the same source of infection," Cui said.

Cui said as the outbreak is associated with a group gathering in Urumqi, 99.3 percent of confirmed cases were detected in the city, and the remaining cases in other places are related to the capital.

"We also found the confirmed cases are declining after reaching their peak at the end of July, and most confirmed cases are not severe," she added.

The city reported 28 locally transmitted infections and nine asymptomatic cases on Monday, bringing the total figure of confirmed cases to 606 and asymptomatic cases to 114 since the emergence of the outbreak on July 15.