Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan inspected COVID-19-hit Zhengzhou, capital city of Central China’s Henan province, ordering immediate implementation of epidemic prevention and control measures to curb a further spread of the virus, Xinhua News Agency reported on Friday.
In Zhengzhou, Sun visited places including the Henan Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Henan CDC), a residential community, a nucleic acid testing site and the Sixth People’s Hospital, a designated hospital for treatment of overseas arrivals who are infected with COVID-19.
The hospital has reported in-hospital infections that have spread across, even out of, Zhengzhou.
During her visit, Sun demanded immediate reports and quarantine measures, vowing zero tolerance for in-hospital infections. Sun noted that authorities must enhance their sense of responsibility amid the recent COVID-19 resurgence.
Zhengzhou, which is just recovering from a deadly flood, has reported 112 local COVID-19 cases as of Thursday in the latest outbreak, according to local authorities.
Zhengzhou announced it would implement “closed-loop management” across the city from Friday to avoid possible virus transmission, requiring citizens not to leave the city unless necessary. Residents living in high- and medium- risk areas must stay at home.
The travel history of an infected patient surnamed Liu, a nurse at the Sixth People’s Hospital in Zhengzhou, drew wide attention this week, as she attended a wedding ceremony along with 402 other guests in the city on July 20 – although the number was fewer than the earlier rumored figure of 800.
Gene sequencing of the virus showed the city’s current epidemic resurgence is highly homologous to an imported case currently being treated at the Sixth People’s Hospital. “It was a Delta variant …[but] it had no connection with the cases in Nanjing,” the local health authority said at a press conference on Thursday.
A medical worker takes a swab sample from a resident for nucleic acid testing in Zhengzhou, central China’s Henan Province, Aug 2, 2021.Photo:Xinhua
