China has confined city of 5 million people due to COVID-19 outbreak among schoolchildren

Chinese authorities have decided confine the inhabitants of Xiamen, a city of 5 million inhabitants and one of the most populous in the southeastern province of Fujian, where a recent coronavirus outbreak added 60 new positives on Monday.

China’s National Health Commission reported on Tuesday that of the 60 new local infections diagnosed on Monday (59 confirmed and one asymptomatic), 32 were located in Xiamen, and preliminary analyzes cited by the local press highlighted the presence of the most virulent variant Delta.

Authorities suspect Patient Zero is a man who returned from Singapore and developed symptoms after testing negative for the coronavirus and completing a 14-day quarantine. Her 12-year-old son and a classmate were among the first to be infected just after the school year reopened. The virus has spread between classes, infecting over 36 children, eight of whom are preschoolers, said the city authorities on Tuesday.

The local newspaper The paper notified of the entry into force, as of the last local time (4:00 p.m. GMT), of suspension of long-distance bus services, as part of a series of measures that include returning to online classes for kindergarten to college students and closing all play areas.

Local press also reported that all residential complexes in Xiamen will remain “closed loop”, preventing residents from leaving, and only travelers with a negative nucleic acid test result completed within 48 hours will be allowed access to the city airport.

According to the Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post, all Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations and events (the next 21st day) have been canceled, while mass gatherings have been banned, weddings postponed, and relevant guidelines issued to celebrate funerals in a “simple way”. “.

So far, the cities of Putian and Quanzhou (the latter with more than 6 million people), also in Fujian province, have also recorded positives in the same outbreak.

In the case of Putian – where today a series of massive tests of its nearly 2 million inhabitants-, the local press reported that the infections are in a school and a shoe factory.

This Monday, the authorities assured that regrowth is likely to spread to more parts of the Asian country, but they will be able to check it before the start of the “golden week” vacation, which begins on October 1.

To date, China has developed a zero tolerance strategy against the coronavirus, which involves strict entry checks into the country with quarantines of up to three weeks and numerous tests of various types, in addition to the practice of massive testing in places where it is detected. regrowth.

According to the report published today by the health authorities, China recorded this Monday 92 new confirmed cases -59 by local contagion and 33 from abroad- and there are currently 810 active infected, of which 4 remain in serious condition , in addition to 401 infected. asymptomatic.

Since the start of the pandemic, official figures indicate that 95,340 people have been infected in China, of which 89,894 have been cured and 4,636 have died.

(With information from EFE and AFP)

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