Shijiazhuang, China's new hotspot of COVID-19 surge
- by Leona Burton
- in World Media
- — Jan 13, 2021
The National Health Commission (NHC) announced on Wednesday that another 90 confirmed cases had been reported in Hebei province, whose capital Shijiazhuang has accounted for the vast majority of recent cases.
North China's Hebei Province reported a total of 326 locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases and 234 asymptomatic cases from January 2 to 10 a.m. Tuesday, Vice Governor Xu Jianpei said on Tuesday. This was the highest daily increase since July 30.
Officials in Hebei province have ordered a lockdown of several cities, while authorities in northeastern Heilongjiang province, which posted 16 new cases, have declared an "emergency state" for the entire province and its 37 million residents.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has laid out his vision for the Communist Party for the next three decades, calling for conviction and confidence in the face of unprecedented global challenges.Xi told a top-level meeting in Beijing on Monday that he believed "time and momentum are on China's side", despite challenges including the coronavirus pandemic, supply chain disruptions, deteriorating relations with the West and a slowing economy."The world is in a turbulent time that is unprecedented in the past century", Xi said in the speech, according to party mouthpiece People's Daily. On the same day, 42 asymptomatic cases were re-categorized as confirmed ones.
More news: Ontario announces state of emergency, issues stay-at-home orderThe curbs come ahead of February's Lunar New Year, when hundreds of millions criss-cross China to visit family and friends, and authorities are anxious to contain the spread of the virus before the massive annual migration.
Two counties under Langfang's jurisdiction which border Beijing - Guan and Sanhe - have already announced home quarantine measures. In last week, the city reported 369 confirmed COVID-19 cases and asymptomatic cases, all of whom are treated at designated hospitals.
In a village in the south of Beijing that shares a border with Hebei, residents were stopping vehicles and asking to see health-tracking codes on mobile phones.
Authorities in Beijing's Xicheng district said on Tuesday that the confirmed COVID-19 patient from Guan county works at a building in the district.
More news: Fikayo Tomori on Milan's wanted list after Chelsea open door to loan"We have to be careful as we're near Guan, where COVID cases were reported today", said a volunteer security officer surnamed Wang. Yichun also found one positive case after testing all recent returnees from the county.
The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases on the mainland reached 87,706 by Tuesday, including 784 patients still receiving treatment, 21 of whom were in severe condition. Indonesia has one of the region's worst COVID-19 outbreaks, having recorded 858,043 total infections, including 24,951 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University's Coronavirus Resource Center.
Underscoring the risk of the virus spreading, the city of Changchun - the capital of northeastern Jilin province - reported on Monday four new asymptomatic patients who had travelled to the city from Wangkui recently.
A steady trickle of new coronavirus cases has surfaced in China's northern provinces since October, prompting strict restrictions despite the number of infections being small compared to outbreaks in many other countries.
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