Beijing:
China’s northeastern city of Harbin, population 10 million, went into semi-shutdown immediately after reporting new locally transmitted COVID-19 situations for the very first time considering that early February.
Three of 16 new nearby situations reported in China for Sept. 21 have been in Harbin, the provincial capital of Heilongjiang, the National Health Commission (NHC) mentioned on Wednesday. The last reported locally transmitted situations in the city have been on Feb. 4.
Harbin, identified for its minus 30 degree Celsius (minus 22 degree Fahrenheit) winters, on Wednesday vowed to full an initial round of city-wide testing by Thursday, and told its residents to refrain from stepping outdoors their houses, unless required, ahead of their test outcomes are out.
The city has currently told its residents to stay clear of leaving town unless for important motives, and these who do leave ought to generate proof of adverse test outcomes inside 48 hours from departure.
Indoors venues such as cinemas, gyms and mah-jong parlours have been also shut, and tourist internet sites have been ordered to limit visitor targeted traffic at half of their capacity, state tv reported on Tuesday.
The city would also suspend offline classes at all kindergartens, principal schools and higher schools for a week from Wednesday, state tv mentioned late on Tuesday.
It was unclear if the 3 new Harbin situations have been linked to the existing outbreak in the eastern province of Fujian.
According to state tv, one of the situations was identified when the individual went to a nearby hospital for testing.
The other two, close contacts of the very first case, returned to China from the Philippines in late August and have been very first quarantined in the southern city of Guangzhou ahead of getting quarantined once again at home in Harbin.
Bayan county, exactly where the 3 situations lived, suspended bus and taxi services and locked down some places.
In Fujian, the cities of Xiamen and Putian reported a total of 13 new situations for Sept. 21, according to the NHC on Wednesday, down from the typical day-to-day count last week.
Vice premier Sun Chunlan mentioned on Monday that nearby officials must not be blindly optimistic about the progress made in Fujian, simply because uncertainties remains and the battle against the virus was nevertheless in a “deadlock”, state media reported.
Sun demanded that efforts to seal up communities deemed of virus threat must be stricter, according to Fujian Daily.
The 4 Fujian cities of Putian, Xiamen, Quanzhou and Zhangzhou that have reported nearby situations have all told residents not to leave town unless for important motives.
They have also locked down places of larger threat, closed several public venues, reduce particular extended-distance bus services, and halted offline lessons at kindergartens, principal schools and higher schools.
Zhangzhou has told nearby authorities to tighten approval for foreigners looking for to enter the city.
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