Wuhan, the city in central China's Hubei Province previously hard hit by the novel coronavirus, reported no new asymptomatic cases Sunday, the first time since the provincial capital released figures on the virus carriers showing no symptoms.

The city conducted more than 60,000 nucleic acid tests on Sunday, finding no new asymptomatic cases, according to a statement issued Monday by the municipal health commission.

Wuhan started a campaign on May 14 to expand nucleic acid testing in order to better know the number of asymptomatic cases or people who show no clear symptoms despite carrying the virus.

No new asymptomatic cases reported for the first time indicates the campaign has seen apparent effects, said the statement.

Asymptomatic patients of COVID-19 refer to people who tested positive in nucleic acid or antibody tests but have not developed any symptoms, such as fever, coughing and fatigue. This type of case is most likely to arise from close contact with confirmed COVID-19 patients, such as family members.

According to current monitoring and research, asymptomatic patients of COVID-19 are contagious. Some experts believe that due to the absence of symptoms, such as coughing and sneezing, the chance of transmission from asymptomatic patients is relatively less than from confirmed COVID-19 patients.

(With input from Xinhua)