Photo: Xinhua

Dalian in Northeast China's Liaoning Province has entered "wartime mode," after the city reported a new COVID-19 cluster linked to a local seafood processing company. 

All kindergartens and nurseries in Dalian are closed starting Friday, and local residents are required to undergo nucleic acid testing before taking subway line 3. The seafood processing company that has been linked to the cluster is located along line 3.

The city government urged widespread disinfection, the launch of COVID-19 prevention and control inspections in key areas including shopping malls, wholesale markets and cold-chain warehouses, and nucleic acid testing for employees working in those key areas, according to a city government meeting on Thursday.

Indoor public venues such as internet cafes, shower rooms and mahjong and poker rooms in medium-risk regions were asked to close to prevent the further spread of the virus. 

The city government urged medical institutions to upgrade their precaution level to prevent new infections in hospitals. For those communities put under lockdown, local government has established a team to provide daily necessities. 

Dalian reported two new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases and 15 new asymptomatic infections on Friday, after a 58-year-old man working at a seafood processing company tested positive on Wednesday, breaking the city's record of zero COVID-19 cases for 111 days.

The company the man works for is engaged in the processing and cold storage of imported and domestic aquatic products. The source of the infection remains unknown.

Dalian on Thursday announced it would test more than 190,000 people across the city, and 18 experts dispatched by the national health commission have arrived in Dalian.

Global Times