China seals off ENTIRE CITY in major development – second wave fears erupt

More than 600 scheduled flights to and from Urumqi Diwopu International Airport have been grounded and the city’s subway services have been suspended. Video shared on social media showed deserted streets as resident were ordered to stay at home. Urumqui, the capital of the far western region of Xinjiang, is home to around 3.5 million people.

The regional health commission has reported eight six infections and 11 asymptomatic cases of COVID-19

Urumqi health officials said a 24-year-old woman with symptoms such as a sore throat, fever and headaches, had tested positive for the virus.

Three people with whom she had close contact has tested positive but had not showed any symptoms.

Officials in the eastern province of Zhejiang reported an asymptomatic case involving a traveller from Xinjiang.

The tally of mainland China’s confirmed infections now stands at 83,622 with the official death toll unchanged at 4,634.

Beijing, which suffered a fresh outbreak last month, reported no new cases for an 11th consecutive day.

But Hong Kong, which suffered remarkably few cases in the first wave of the pandemic, has also imposed strict social distancing measures after recording 52 new cases including 41 locally transmitted infections.

A Hong Kong government spokesman said: “The recent emergence of local cases of unknown infection source indicates the existence of sustained silent transmission in the community.”

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Nearly 580,000 people globally have died from COVID-19 and more than 13 million have been infected following an outbreak that started in the central Chinese city of Wuhan last year.

And World Health Organisation Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned the pandemic would worsen if countries failed to adhere to strict precautions.

He said: “Let me be blunt, too many countries are headed in the wrong direction, the virus remains public enemy number one.”

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said: “This is a regime that failed to disclose the information they had about a virus that has now killed over 100,000 Americans and now it is allowing the World Health Organisation to go in to conduct what I am confident will be a completely, completely whitewashed investigation.”

Mr Pompeo said: “I hope I am wrong. I hope it’s a thorough investigation that gets fully to the bottom, but I have watched the Chinese Communist Party’s behaviour with respect to the virus that emanated from Wuhan and they have simply refused.

“They have destroyed samples. They have taken journalists and doctors who were prepared to talk about this and not permitted them to do what nations that want to play on a truly global scale and global stage ought to do: be transparent and open and communicate and co-operate.”

source: express.co.uk