China has locked down the city of Zhengzhou amid the spread of the Covid-19 epidemic and the number of infections continues to increase.
Sputnik quoted the announcement of the local government on August 6, saying that Zhengzhou city, Henan province, central China was completely blocked.
The Zhengzhou government’s Covid-19 epidemic control command center said that all residential areas in Zhengzhou will be strictly blocked and locals will only be allowed to go out with a medical green card. Residents also have to check their body temperature regularly.
For people living in residential areas classified as “medium and high-risk areas”, only one person per household will be allowed to go out to buy essentials on a one-time basis. everyday.
Zhengzhou detected the first case of Covid-19 in the community at the 6th People’s Hospital last week. As of August 5, this city has recorded 112 cases of Covid-19.
Chinese health officials say the latest outbreak in Zhengzhou originated from a patient infected with the Delta variant being treated at the 6th People’s Hospital. This facility is designated as a treatment place for patients with severe illness. imported Covid-19 cases into the city.
Wang Songqiang, head of the Zhengzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that most of the Covid-19 cases in this city are related to the 6th People’s Hospital, including cleaning staff, hospital staff, and medical staff. medical staff, inpatients. Mr. Wang said this shows a gap in the epidemic prevention at this hospital.
According to Mr. Wang, if compared with “outbreaks” in cities such as Nanjing, Zhangjiajie or Chengdu, the epidemic situation in Zhengzhou spreads very quickly, while patients have a large viral load and it will take a long time to return negative.
The outbreak of Covid-19 is the next challenge facing the people of Zhengzhou after the historic flood in mid-July left at least 292 locals dead and 47 missing. The head of Zhengzhou’s health commission was fired after the city recorded asymptomatic and multiple suspected infections on July 30.
China’s National Health Commission on August 6 said that in the past 24 hours, the country recorded 124 new infections, including 80 infections in the community, the highest since January this year. As of August 6, China recorded a total of 93,498 cases of Covid-19, of which more than 4,600 cases have died.
Since the first outbreak in Wuhan at the end of 2019, China has basically controlled Covid-19. Small outbreaks still appeared and were quickly controlled, however, the recent outbreak made many experts worried.
The new outbreak originated from a cluster at Lukou International Airport in Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province since mid-July and has now spread to nearly 20 provinces and some major cities of China. Although more than 600 cases have been recorded in the new outbreak, this is the largest outbreak in China since the outbreak in Wuhan. The cause is thought to be due to the more contagious Delta variant.
To prevent the spread of the Delta mutation, many localities in China are implementing drastic response measures such as testing the entire population, restricting travel between localities, especially areas with epidemics. . This week, the Wuhan city government also raised the level of epidemic response, blocking the areas with cases, and keeping students out of school.
