China has enforced what officials called ‘the strictest’ anti-virus measures on the capital city of Xinjiang as the region braces for a looming COVID-19 outbreak.
Urumqi, a city of 3.5million in China’s western Uighur region, recorded five new confirmed cases today after registering its first COVID-19 infection in five months on Thursday.
Fears of a new virus crisis have arisen as the government has shut down the city’s only subway line and the shuttle bus services to the airport. Around 200 flights in and out of the city’s international airport have reportedly been cancelled today.
Urumqi, a city of 3.5million in China’s western Uighur region, recorded five new confirmed cases today after registering its first COVID-19 infection in five months on Thursday. The file picture taken on June 21 shows a group of Uighur women working at a garment factory in a resettlement area in Yecheng county of China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region
Urumqi, a city of 3.5million in western China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region, recorded five new confirmed cases today after registering its first COVID-19 infection in five months on Thursday
The news comes after Hong Kong is battling what officials called ‘a third wave’ of infections that has topped previous surges of cases.
In Urumqi, all air passengers must show a negative result from their nucleic acid testing – which detects the existence of the virus – carried out in the past seven days before being allowed to board flights to and from the city, according to multiple Chinese airlines.
Beijing has also been hit by a local coronavirus outbreak linked to a seafood market since mid-June, despite the majority of the nation appears to have contained the crisis.
Xinjiang had reported a total of 76 COVID-19 cases since January. The autonomous region had stopped registering new cases from February 18.
After reporting zero infections for five months, the Urumqi officials recorded a new confirmed case on Thursday, a 24-year-old female retail worker, who developed a sore throat last Friday and was sent to hospital via ambulance.
She was diagnosed as a confirmed COVID-19 infection on Wednesday after testing positive for the virus, said the local health authorities yesterday.
Officials also confirmed three asymptomatic patients who had close contacts with the woman.
China has enforced what the provincial officials called ‘the strictest’ anti-virus measures on the capital city of Xinjiang as the region braces for a looming COVID-19 outbreak. The file picture taken on June 17 shows workers making a type of traditional baked pancake at a poverty alleviation workshop in Keping County, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of China
After reporting zero infections for five months, the Urumqi officials recorded a new confirmed case on Thursday, a 24-year-old female retail worker, who developed a sore throat last Friday. The file picture shows an aerial view of the western Chinese city Urumqi in Xinjiang region
Following the first confirmed infection, the provincial officials have imposed ‘the strictest’ measures to battle the looming new COVID-19 outbreak.
Xinjiang’s Communist Party committee said in a meeting on Thursday: ‘[We] must resolutely cut off the channel of transmission, focus on key people and key areas, take the most determined, decisive, and strictest measures to ensure that all investigations and inspections are conducted to resolutely curb the spread of the epidemic.’
The officials also pledged to ‘strictly implement prevention and control measures’ by tightening control of citizens travelling in and out of the region.
Areas with a dense population, as well as communities and neighbourhoods will be closely monitored.
Following the first confirmed infection, the provincial officials has vowed to launch ‘the strictest’ measures to battle the looming new COVID-19 outbreak. The file picture taken on June 18 shows workers at a garment factory in Aketao county of the Uighur region Xinjiang
The city’s transport authorities announced to shut down the subway in a statement yesterday, said Chinese media. But the post appears to have been removed from its social media page. The file picture taken on June 17 shows a worker carrying nang, a traditional bread, at a poverty alleviation workshop in Keping county, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in western China
‘[We must] strengthen the control of crowded places, the grid management of communities and villages, and carry out stringent screening in the fever clinics of hospitals,’ the government said.
The city’s transport authorities announced to shut down the subway in a statement yesterday, said Chinese media. But the post appears to have been removed from its social media page.
The government also activated an emergency mechanism to provide sufficient amount of produce supply in the city’s food markets, reported Chinese media.
The transport group of Changji, a city bordering Urumqi, has reportedly suspended all routes and ordered its staff to undergo nucleic acid testing.
On Friday, the government reported another five new confirmed infections, bringing the total active cases to six. Eight new asymptomatic cases were also registered.
A total of 135 people are under quarantine for medical observation, the authorities say.
It remains unclear if all the patients are linked to the same infection cluster or source.