Cluster cases raise epidemic risk ahead of Spring Festival
Print Edition
China is facing rising risks of COVID-19 epidemic as cluster cases have emerged in some parts of the country ahead of the Spring Festival holiday, when hundreds of millions travel, a health official said yesterday.
A total of 757 locally transmitted cases occurred in the Chinese mainland over the past week, said Mi Feng with the National Health Commission at a press conference in Beijing.
The number of close contacts under medical observation reached a ten-month record high, he added.
The newly reported cluster cases mainly occurred in rural areas, Mi said, adding the virus spread in families, communities and schools has posed a challenge to the disease containment effort.
“We estimate that around 1.7 billion passenger trips will be made during the 2021 Lunar New Year travel season, averaging around 40 million per day,” said Wang Xiuchun, an official at the transport ministry, yesterday.
That would be a drop of 40 percent from the level in 2019, but 10 percent more than last year’s season and two times current levels, she said.
China’s weeklong Spring Festival holiday begins on February 11 and the travel rush, also known as chunyun, lasts for 40 days from January 28 to March 8 this year.
People returning to rural areas during the Lunar New Year season should have a negative COVID-19 test taken within the previous seven days, said Wang Bin, an official at the National Health Commission.
Wang said nucleic acid testing facilities should be established in every county-level region across the nation amid efforts to prevent COVID-19 in rural areas. He also called for strengthened public health emergency preparedness in county-level regions.
While urging rural residents to avoid unnecessary gatherings and stay alert to the coronavirus, she said the environment of clinics, recreation centers and other venues where people gather in rural areas will be tested to detect possible infection hazards.
Pharmacies in rural areas should be cautious in selling antipyretics and ask buyers to take COVID-19 tests as soon as possible, she added, urging primary-level medical centers and hospitals to play a better role in detecting suspicious patients.
Local authorities in northeast China, where most of the new cases are located, have employed a combination of measures including lockdowns, travel curbs and mass testing.
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