A city in China’s southeastern province of Fujian has closed cinemas and gymnasiums, sealed some entries and exits to highways and told residents to not leave town because it battles an area COVID-19 outbreak.
The virus situation within the city of Putian is “serious and complex” and it’s very likely more new cases will emerge in communities, schools and factories, state broadcaster CCTV said on Monday.
Certain offline lessons in schools have also been suspended in Putian and China’s national health authority has sent a team of experts to the town, which incorporates a population of three.2 million.
A total of 43 local cases had been reported in Fujian between Sept. 10 and Sept. 12, including 35 in Putian, data from the National Health Commission (NHC) shows.
Another 32 asymptomatic cases, which China doesn’t count as confirmed cases before they show clinical signs like fever, are detected within the province since Sept. 10, dead Putian city.
As of Sept. 12, Red China, where COVID-19 first emerged in late 2019, had recorded 95,248 confirmed cases, with a cumulative death count of 4,636.
China’s last outbreak, which affected mainly Jiangsu, ended about period of time ago, with no new local cases reported within the eastern province. That outbreak lasted a month.
Preliminary testing on samples from some Putian cases showed patients had contracted the highly transmissible Delta variant, a neighborhood health official said on Saturday.
The first few infections, found during routine testing, were elementary students in Xianyou county in Putian. Experts suspected the source of the outbreak could be a student’s parent who had travelled to the county from nearby Xiamen city after coming back from Singapore, state media reported on Saturday.
Xianyou, with a population of about 900,000, has sealed up some areas deemed of upper risk and commenced a testing drive.
The county has also halted buses and taxi services, closed a long-distance depot, and barred passengers from boarding or getting far from its railroad station, state media said.
Putian said on Sunday it’ll suspend operations of indoor entertainment venues including chess and card parlours, cinemas, theatres, internet cafes and bars, also as libraries, museums and gymnasiums, and can shorten opening hours and curb patron traffic at restaurants.
Putian residents shouldn’t leave the town for non-essential reasons, and people who leave should produce proof of negative test results within 48 hours before departure.
The city has suspended from Monday all offline lessons in any respect kindergartens and elementary schools in Putian city, and most offline lessons at high schools.
Among a complete of 20 highway entries and exits within the city, 12 have barred vehicles from entering or leaving.
