BEIJING, Oct. 21 (BNA): Parts of northern China are bracing for more COVID-19 restrictions as a wave of cases raises fears of a wider outbreak, with three regions imposing closures, some schools suspending classes, and an airline postponing work. in a missile project.
On Thursday, data from the National Health Commission showed that China reported 13 new locally transferred cases on October 20, bringing the total since October from 16 to 42.
Alxa Left Banner, a small administrative division in China’s Inner Mongolia region, said late Wednesday it had imposed a lockdown and would test its population of 180,000, after the city of Ehrenhot and a band called Aegina Banner prevented people from leaving among local residents. outbreak, Reuters reported.
The shutdowns are small compared to those seen during early 2020 in the largest and densest city of Wuhan.
The last group, comprising mostly north and northwest China, has arrived in the capital, Beijing, and neighboring Hebei Province, where officials have vowed to crack down on the virus as preparations for the 2022 Winter Olympics intensify in February.
The only local case reported in Beijing on October 19 was the first since August.
In Hebei, the city of Xingtai, about a six-hour drive from Zhangjiakou, which will host the games with Beijing, reported two asymptomatic local infections, which are classified by China separately from confirmed cases, on October 20.
In northwestern Gansu Province, where nine locally confirmed cases were reported last week, primary and secondary schools in the provincial capital Lanzhou, as well as in one county in Jiuquan City, have suspended classes offline.
Jiuquan, where the country frequently launches missiles, has yet to discover any local cases, but authorities have halted cultural events such as fairs.
Expace, a state-backed airline, said on Tuesday it had postponed work on a mission involving the Kuaizhou 1-A missile in Jiuquan as part of epidemic control. Staff were asked to enter a ‘semi-closed’ mode and avoid contact outside.
Officials did not disclose how people were infected in the latest cases.
Many of the infected traveled across counties before they were diagnosed, prompting a chain of cities to trace and test their close contacts.
FKN