China has pack up schools, put in situ travel restrictions, and ordered macromolecule tests for millions within the eastern province of Fujian because the caseload of latest Covid-19 infections quite doubled to 139 until Tuesday evening.
Termed because the first “school-centred” outbreak in China, nearly three dozen children are infected within the sudden surge of infections, first detected during a school during random macromolecule testing last week.
The fresh cases have thus far been concentrated in three cities, Putian, Quanzhou and capital , Xiamen, though reports say contacts of these infected have travelled to neighbouring provinces.
Around 20 cases involving children below 12 years old are reported, state-run tabloid, Global Times reported.
Xiamen, a port city and popular tourist destination, started a citywide macromolecule testing for its 5 million citizens, health authorities announced on Tuesday.
Colleges, primary and high schools, and vocational schools will need to move their courses online, while kindergartens are told to suspend operations, the Xinhua press agency said during a report.
Xiamen residents are advised to not leave the town unless necessary, and people who want to go away must present a green sanitary code and supply a negative macromolecule test result within 48 hours before departure.
To curb the spread of the virus, Fujian expressway authorities have enforced control at dozens of expressway toll gates across the province, the Xinhua report said.
A citywide macromolecule testing started on Tuesday afternoon in Putian city.
As of Monday, 85 people had tested positive in Putian, consisting of 64 confirmed cases and 21 asymptomatic carriers, an area health official said.
The new outbreak has come before two important holidays – the mid-Autumn festival within the third week of September, and therefore the week-long National Holidays within the first week of October.
The last domestic outbreak (late July to August) disrupted travel, tourism, hospitality, and transportation sectors.
Chinese experts feel the case numbers within the current flare-up are likely to travel up within the coming weeks.
The outbreak will likely spread to more regions across China but are often brought in check before the National Day holiday in October with the implementation of strong control measures, health experts told state media.
Since May, China has stamped out quite one local Covid-19 cluster outbreaks driven by emerging variants.
The same measures and control strategies are being implemented in Fujian – mass testing, swift tracing and quarantining of close contacts, and targeted small-scale lockdowns that minimise the impact on communities.
