New Cases Sparks Fears Of Virus Wave In Jilin

The mainland reported seven new coronavirus infections on May 12, versus one a day earlier, the national health authority said on Wednesday, with six local cases in northeastern Jilin province and one imported case in Shanghai.

Jilin has emerged as the source of a potential new wave of infections, with its city of Shulan forced to adjust the risk level to "high" from "medium" at the weekend.

Five of the six new infections could be traced directly to one confirmed case in Shulan, the local health commission said on Wednesday.

All six were identified in the province's second largest city, also called Jilin, which will now temporarily suspend departing or transiting train services for passengers.

The mainland also confirmed eight new asymptomatic coronavirus cases on May 12, down from 15 the day before.

Meanwhile high-profile US epidemiologist Larry Brilliant has urged China to be "radically transparent" if it wants to fend off suspicion over the origin of the novel coronavirus.

Theories abound about the provenance of the virus that has sparked the global Covid-19 pandemic, which has killed nearly 300,000 people worldwide in a matter of months.

Brilliant said Beijing's "suspicious behaviour", refusing to allow in international experts and even blocking Chinese scientists from probing the origin, was fuelling such theories.

"We should be allowed, and the Chinese scientists should be allowed, to study the origin of the disease," said Brilliant, who famously helped lead the World Health Organisation's drive to eradicate smallpox four decades ago.

The United States and Australia have called for an international investigation, but China has refused, and is yet to respond to a WHO request for an invitation to help probe the virus origin.

However Brilliant, who served as a consultant on the frighteningly realistic 2011 pandemic horror film "Contagion", dismissed the assertion by some that the virus may have been artificially manufactured. (Reuters/AFP)