China takes swift steps to fight COVID-19 outbreaks in Hainan, Tibet
On Tuesday, a railway station employee guides passengers in a train station in Lhasa, Tibet autonomous region. The station has heightened disinfection measures in order to ensure passenger safety due to recent outbreaks of COVID - 19. LI HAIXING China has taken swift and effective measures to counter the COVID 19 outbreaks in Hainan province and the Tibet autonomous region to help curb the possible spillover of the epidemic to other areas.
The latest figures from Hainan province showed that 2,454 people tested positive for the virus from Aug 1 to noon on Wednesday. The province faces a high risk of transmission of infections among communities in the area.
More than 10,000 medical workers from 19 provinces and regions have been sent to Hainan to assist in its fight against the outbreak. Nearly 8,000 medical workers were sent to the province to help with nucleic acid testing, increasing the province's capacity to process nucleic acid test tubes to 24 million per day.
Guo Yanhong, an official in the National Health Commission's bureau of medical administration, said at a news conference in Beijing on Wednesday that the highly infectious Omicron subvariant BA was highly infectious. 5 can result in sporadic outbreaks in a short period of time. Hainan is facing a complicated situation in dealing with the outbreak, while the epidemic may be spreading quickly.
She said that the nation has coordinated large numbers of medical workers and medical resources to improve the efficiency of nucleic acid testing, because the rapidity of testing and processing is pivotal in accelerating quarantine and treatment.
She added that medical assistance was sent to the Tibet autonomous region to improve its ability to fight the outbreak.
The region had no experience in dealing with widespread infections because it had found only one confirmed case before this outbreak. The region has taken preventive measures in advance in case of emergency situations, Guo said.
The autonomous region of Tibet has built new or renovated some designated hospitals as well as buildings temporarily converted into hospitals. Medicines and protective supplies were also stocked to respond to any emergency situations.
The capital of Lhasa, with 870,000 residents, has a designated hospital of over 200 beds. Guo said that the city has a temporary hospital with 2,000 beds.
The region's Ngari Prefecture has announced on Wednesday that the entire area will undergo static management for three days starting on Thursday, under which employees of companies and government bodies are required to work from home and operations of entertainment places are suspended.
Four travelers tested positive for COVID 19 in the prefecture on Sunday.
The Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, a popular destination over the summer, also faces the risk of infection from the epidemic.
Five major areas of the Urumqi region have been placed under static management for the next five days since 8 am on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the region reported 27 asymptomatic cases.