Hebei to test 4.9m people after another city put under lockdown
Print Edition
CHINA imposed new coronavirus curbs in northern Hebei Province yesterday, putting 4.9 million people in Langfang City under lockdown as authorities worked to contain the latest resurgence of the virus.
The National Health Commission yesterday reported 55 new COVID-19 cases in China, down from 103 a day earlier. Hebei Province, which surrounds Beijing, accounted for 40 of the 42 locally transmitted infections with 39 cases in provincial capital Shijiazhuang alone.
Northeastern Heilongjiang Province and Beijing each confirmed one local case.
After one case was reported in its Gu’an County, Langfang, a manufacturing hub around 55 kilometers south of Beijing, said its 4.9 million residents would be put under home quarantine for seven days.
“All family gatherings should be canceled ... all wedding ceremonies postponed and funerals simplified until the epidemic situation has subsided,” the Langfang City government said in a statement.
Officials will now rush to test all residents in two days, the local health bureau said.
Authorities last week launched a mass testing drive and closed transport links, schools and shops in Shijiazhuang — epicenter of the latest outbreak — with its 11 million residents required to undergo two rounds of testing.
The provincial capital, where more than 300 confirmed COVID-19 cases have been found since the beginning of this year, launched the second round of citywide nucleic acid testing yesterday, said Meng Xianghong, vice mayor of the city.
The testing is expected to take only two days, Ma Yujun, acting mayor of the city, said. There will be sufficient professional staff for sampling, information input and maintaining order at every sampling site to ensure that work is carried out in an orderly and efficient manner.
Neighboring Xingtai City, home to 7 million people, has also been locked down since last Friday.
The worsening situation prompted Hebei government to indefinitely postpone an annual legislative meeting that was due to be held this month.
The province reported a total of 326 locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases and 234 asymptomatic cases from January 2 to 10am yesterday, Vice Governor Xu Jianpei said.
The National Health Commission has urgently allocated convalescent plasma from recovered COVID-19 cases in Wuhan for the treatment of severe patients in Hebei, said Liang Zhankai, director of Hebei health commission.
A total of 252 testers from other provincial-level regions have been sent to Shijiazhuang, Xingtai and Langfang to assist in nucleic acid testing and help Hebei increase its daily testing capacity to 1.1 million tubes.
Upon the implementation of stricter COVID-19 prevention and control measures, Shijiazhuang has taken a raft of measures to ensure supply of staple food, as well as heating, gas and water supply, as residents have been told to stay home for two weeks since January 6.
Authorities said they have arranged 59 supermarkets and over 300 convenience stores in Shijiazhuang to directly supply over 2,000 residential complexes.
About 25,000 couriers are returning to work to supply daily necessities to stay-at-home residents in the city after a second round of nucleic acid tests among couriers.
Meanwhile, a new guideline issued by the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control recommended that taxi and ride-hailing operators suspend car-pooling services, and that drivers should get weekly nucleic acid tests and be vaccinated in order to work.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
