China's COVID-19 outbreak continues to spread
By Zhu Lixin in Hefei and Cang Wei in Nanjing
By Zhu Lixin in Hefei and Cang Wei in Nanjing
By Zhu Lixin in Hefei and Cang Wei in Nanjing
On July 3, 2022, a medical worker checks a resident's information at a nucleic acid test site in Sixian county in Anhui province. PHOTO XINHUA Looking through a window of her home in Suzhou's Sixian county in Anhui province, Gao Mengfan was relieved when she saw an elderly neighbor walking in his yard on Tuesday morning and knew he was not ill.
Three public health workers wearing protective gowns and face shields came to give a rapid antigen test, said Gao, who had returned to Yangji village from college on June 23 for a summer vacation.
Gao said her family has so far remained self-sufficient, despite the fact that they have a backyard planted with enough vegetables and a full refrigerator. She believes that dynamic clearance will be achieved soon, referring to China's dynamic zero-COVID policy to control the disease.
On June 26, Sixian county reported three asymptomatic COVID 19 cases, and that was the beginning of the latest outbreak in Anhui province.
From June 26 to the afternoon of July 5, Sixian reported 218 confirmed cases and 847 asymptomatic cases, the county said in a news conference on Tuesday.
By the end of Monday, the province of Anhui had reported 1,081 cases, most of which were asymptomatic. In addition to that, infections were also found in Suzhou's Lingbi county and Yongqiao district, and in Mengcheng county in Bozhou.
The number of cases of community transmission has been steadily declining in Sixian thanks to the speedy response, Suzhou authorities said on Tuesday. Sixian started an eighth round of mass testing in the afternoon.
Jin Dongyan, a University of Hong Kong virologist, told China Newsweek that small counties with relatively low epidemic control capacity can use rapid antigen testing for epidemic surveillance. Nucleic acid testing is more demanding in terms of facilities and staff.
14,000 medical workers from other cities in the province have been sent to Suzhou to assist with the outbreak, which also spilled out into the neighboring province of Jiangsu.
Sixian strengthened control measures by introducing anti-epidemic chiefs at each residential community and even in each building, the local epidemic control headquarters said. The people who missed tests and insufficient tracing of infections would be held accountable by those in charge.
Gao said workers are seen patrolling the village, asking people who are outdoors to return home if they don't have valid reasons to be out.
On Monday 34 in Wuxi, 31 in Xuzhou and one in Nanjing reported asymptomatic cases of COVID- 19 in the province of Jiangsu, according to local health authorities.
The Shanghai Health Commission said on Monday that the city had three locally confirmed cases and five asymptomatic cases. The city will conduct mass nucleic acid testing from Tuesday to Thursday in areas related to the cases.
Between Monday and 3 pm on Tuesday, Beijing reported seven local cases that resulted from an infection cluster involving people who had returned from overseas, the local authority said on Tuesday.
In Xi'an, Shaanxi province, citywide control measures were put in place for seven days. They include the closure of public entertainment venues and the management of facilities like nursing homes. The city of 13 million people reported 18 cases by the end of Monday.
The Omicron subvariant BA was declared by health authorities on Tuesday. The latest cluster of cases is attributable to 5.2. This is the first outbreak on the Chinese mainland caused by the subvariant, which is believed to be more contagious than earlier versions of the virus.