Medical workers collect swab samples from residents at a community in Qiaoxi district of Shijiazhuang, capital of north China's Hebei province, Jan 6, 2021. (PHOTO / XINHUA)
SHIJIAZHUANG/BEIJING - Shijiazhuang, capital of north China's Hebei province, has placed temporary control over train travels and banned residents from leaving the city in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19 after the province logged 51 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases and 69 asymptomatic cases.
The latest tally had pushed up the total number of confirmed cases in hospitals to 90, the provincial health commission said Thursday.
Gaocheng district of Shijiazhuang was classified a high-risk area and according to a municipal notice, three district officials were given Party disciplinary warnings for dereliction of duty
The public security bureau of Shijiazhuang, capital city of north China's Hebei province, has imposed interim epidemic prevention and control measures at the city's railway station, with all passengers temporarily banned from entering the station and boarding the trains. Travelers may contact the railway ticketing department for refunds.
All the vehicles and people in Shijiazhuang are also banned from leaving the city, local authorities said at a press conference held on Thursday evening.
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The city is currently undergoing citywide nucleic acid testing. People in the worst-hit Gaocheng district, which has been classified as a high-risk area for COVID-19, have been asked to stay put in the district.
Among the newly confirmed cases on Wednesday, 50 were reported in Shijiazhuang, while 67 of the asymptomatic cases were also reported in the city.
The city's Gaocheng district has already completed its mass testing, with about 670,000 people in the district having been sampled for nucleic acid tests as of 8 am on Thursday.
As of Thursday, the provincial emergency management department has allocated relief materials worth 2.38 million yuan (about US$368,900) to assist Shijiazhuang's epidemic prevention efforts. The relief goods include 1,000 tents and 4,000 cotton overcoats. The goods will aid Shijiazhuang as it carries out citywide nucleic acid testing with epidemic control staff and volunteers stationed to secure medium- and high-risk areas.
The provincial health commission on Wednesday dispatched 1,000 medical staff from other cities in the province to support the epidemic control in Shijiazhuang. On Thursday, another 2,000 medical personnel are expected to be transferred to Shijiazhuang to help accelerate the mass nucleic acid testing.
The city has set up 5,011 sites to collect swab samples for the tests.
Three district officials in Gao cheng have been given Party disciplinary warnings for dereliction of duty.China's National Health Commission said Thursday that it received reports of 63 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases on the Chinese mainland Wednesday, of which 52 were locally transmitted and 11 were imported.
Of the locally transmitted cases, other than 51 reported in Hebei, and one was logged in Liaoning, the commission said in its daily report. No new suspected cases or deaths related to the diseas
The public security bureau of Shijiazhuang has placed interim epidemic prevention and control measures at the city's railway station, with all passengers temporarily banned from entering the station and boarding trains. Travelers may contact the railway ticketing department for refunds.
A medical worker collects a swab sample from a girl at a community in Qiaoxi district of Shijiazhuang, capital of north (MU YU / XINHUA)
By the end of Wednesday, 4,359 imported cases had been reported on the mainland with no death reported.
The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases on the mainland reached 87,278 by Wednesday, including 485 patients still receiving treatment. In all, 4,634 had died of the virus, according to the report, and no suspected COVID-19 case was reported on the mainland as of Wednesday.
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By the end of Wednesday, 9,074 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 154 deaths, had been reported in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), while 46 confirmed cases had been reported in Macao SAR, and 819 cases, including seven deaths, in Taiwan.
