The coronavirus infection reporting in China will be split into four different categories now
The four categories are: "suspected cases", "clinically diagnosed cases", "confirmed cases" and "positive tests". The final category is the one to be wary about as it refers to patients who test positive for the virus but have exhibited no symptoms.
This means that patients who test positive for the virus but are asymptomatic, will no longer be included in the daily virus updates by the NHC.
Only if the patient starts to display clinical manifestations and associated symptoms, then their status will be revised to "confirmed cases" in a timely manner.
Just be aware that these may cause a bit of distortion in the numbers being reported by China on the virus outbreak as the number of "positive tests" are not disclosed.
There is little information about why this move was made but just take note that WHO's coronavirus circulation also does state something similar but categorises it into a "confirmed case" and a "probable case" - depending on the quality of the test conducted:
So, if the change by China is to reflect a more accurate definition in accordance to the WHO, then that should not really be seen as a controversial move - although one can argue that the "positive tests" should then be placed under "suspected cases".
That is if it is an issue with the test quality but this appears to be more aimed at symptoms - which can be varying from person-to-person.
In any case, without any proper disclosure of the "positive tests" number, it could distort the real nature of how easily the virus can spread, since it is reported to be able to spread even as the patient has yet to develop any symptoms.
However, the Chinese guidelines does say that patients associated with asymptomatic cases of the virus should still be placed under quarantine.
