The northeastern Chinese city of Shijiazhuang was declared in quarantine on Thursday and 11 million people were banned from leaving the city after 117 cases of covid were found: 50 confirmed and 67 asymptomatic, local authorities reported.
Figures for new infections in that city – the capital of Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing – today raised the number of daily cases across China to the highest level in five months, with 52 local and 79 asymptomatic infections.
Not all people and vehicles in the city will be able to leave it, and those in the Gaocheng urban district, where the highest number of cases was registered, will not be able to leave the area.
According to the official Global Times newspaper, at today’s local lunch (04.00 GMT), the city collected 6.11 million samples in the campaign that started yesterday to perform nucleic acid tests on all the inhabitants of the city.
2.4 MILLION TESTS ANALYZED IN ONE DAY
Of these, 2.4 million samples have been analyzed so far, of which 11 new confirmed cases of covid have been found.
The city’s international airport, located five kilometers from the high-risk area of Gaocheng District, canceled 84% of entry flights and 81% of exit flights.
The stations and operations of the city’s long-distance bus station have also been temporarily closed.
Three Gaocheng officials, including the lieutenant governor and deputy director of the district’s emergency department, have been fired for failing to fulfill their anti-epidemic obligations, according to the Global Times.
Of the 50 new cases confirmed today, three patients attended weddings in different parts of the city, and one is a student at a local college.
The total number of infections registered in the city in the last five days amounts to 83 confirmed cases and 148 asymptomatic.
Shijiazhuang, located about 300 kilometers south of Beijing, has suspended traffic on ten highways linking the city to the Chinese capital.
Hebei Province surrounds Beijing almost completely, with the exception of a small portion of Beijing that borders the port city of Tianjin.
NO WEDNESDAY CLASSES
Face-to-face classes in kindergartens and primary and secondary schools were also canceled on Wednesday, state broadcaster CCTV said.
Of the 52 cases confirmed in the report released today by the country’s National Health Commission, 51 were located in Hebei.
Of these cases, 50 were detected in Shijiazhuang and another in Xingtai City, 123 kilometers away.
Regarding asymptomatic cases, Shijiazhuang added 67 cases today and Xingtai, 2.
So far, 90 confirmed cases are receiving treatment in Hebei hospitals – 5 of them serious – to which must be added 144 asymptomatic cases that are under observation, according to the Xinhua state agency.
According to the latest issue published on Thursday, the total number of active infected in mainland China now stands at 485 people, 13 of whom are in serious condition.