A medical worker wearing a protective suit picked up a throat swab from a local resident for the Covid-19 antigen rapid test at a temporary testing center on January 6, 2021 in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, in China.
Visual China Group | Getty Images
BEIJING – Chinese authorities are beginning to close parts of Beijing’s neighboring province after an increase in coronavirus cases.
The restrictions implemented in Hebei this week are some of the strictest since the spread of Covid-19 stalled in the country in March and occurs when new waves of the coronavirus affected the United States and Europe. China’s harsh initial response to the pandemic contributed to a 6.8% contraction in the economy in the first quarter.
Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province and located about a three-and-a-half-hour drive southwest of Beijing, reported 50 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 67 asymptomatic cases on Wednesday. It brought the provincial total to 90 current confirmed cases and 144 asymptomatic cases.
The city has prevented passengers from going to its train station, suspended long-distance buses, closed schools and tightened controls on apartment complexes, while authorities have blocked major highways. of the province, according to state media.
Hebei Province began revealing some cases of coronavirus over the weekend, and state media attribute some of them to wedding attendees.
The new cases come just weeks after Beijing reported a handful of cases in succession, prompting massive trials in certain districts of the country’s capital.
Chinese authorities have expressed their ability to control the virus in front of the developed world and have blamed most cases since last spring on foreign sources. The country is the only major economy expected to grow in 2020.
But late last year, officials began to express more concerns about the ongoing pandemic.
The increase in coronavirus cases in the latest outbreak in Hebei indicates that the virus has spread over a period of time, Feng Zijian, deputy director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a media interview state at the beginning of the week.
Researchers at the disease control center said genome sequencing showed that the Hebei strains were different from those found in other parts of China and were not related to the strain in the UK, but shared some similarities with the versions found in Russia.
Shijiazhuang is a city of about 11 million people and about 10 hours drive north of Wuhan, Hubei Province, where Covid-19 emerged in late 2019. The disease became a global pandemic. in a few months, and has since infected more than 87 million people worldwide and killed more than 1.8 million.
The Hebei Province Health Commission on Wednesday sent medical personnel to Shijiazhuang to help the city with health needs and massive tests. There are plans to send 2,000 more medical workers on Thursday.
Chinese authorities are encouraging people to stay in the cities where they work during the upcoming Lunar New Year holidays next month. Hundreds of millions of people traditionally return to their hometown or travel during the extended holidays, which fall this year in mid-February.