China reported 3 new coronavirus cases for May 13, down from 7 cases a day earlier, the country’s Health Commission said.
All of the new cases were locally transmitted – two in the northeastern Liaoning province and one in Jilin province that borders Liaoning, the National Health Commission said in a statement on Thursday.
The number of new asymptomatic cases rose to 12 from 8 a day earlier.
The total number of cases now stands at 82 929 while the death toll remained unchanged at 4 633.
Meanwhile, China-linked hackers are breaking into American organisations carrying out research into COVID-19, US officials said on Wednesday, warning both scientists and public health officials to be on the lookout for cyber theft.
In a joint statement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security said the FBI was investigating digital break-ins at US organisations by China-linked “cyber actors” that it had monitored “attempting to identify and illicitly obtain valuable intellectual property(IP) and public health data related to vaccines, treatments, and testing from networks and personnel affiliated with COVID-19-related research.”
The statement offered no further details on the identities of the targets or the hackers.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington condemned the allegations as “lies.”
“The FBI issued a warning based on presumption of guilt and without any evidence,” the embassy said in a written statement, adding the US accusation “undercuts the ongoing international cooperation against the pandemic.”
