Kashgar(Chinese: 喀什)

 

Kashgar in China’s western Xinjiang region.  Greg Baker/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

China links a lone infection found by routine testing to an outbreak in Kashgar

The authorities in China have ordered widespread testing and travel restrictions for the city of Kashgar in the country’s far west after a single asymptomatic case of coronavirus was detected on Saturday. By Sunday afternoon, 137 asymptomatic cases had been discovered.

A 17-year-old girl in a rural area outside Kashgar was found to be infected during regular testing, which set off mass testing. All the other cases found are connected to a factory where her parents work.

The Xinjiang region, which includes Kashgar, was under various lockdowns in February and March and again in July and August. Until Saturday, the region had not reported a new case since mid-August. The outbreak of the virus there early this year prompted concerns that it could spread in the vast network of camps and prisons where hundreds of thousands of ethnic Uighurs and other Muslim minorities have been detained.