A medical worker takes a throat swab sample from a primary school studentfor nucleic acid testing in Licheng Street of Xianyou County in Putian City, East China's Fujian Province, September 12, 2021. (Photo: China News Service)

To stem rising COVID-19 infections in a fresh flare-up, Putian in East China’s Fujian Province will launch city-wide nucleic acid tests and all communities will phase in strict access control starting from Tuesday by examining body temperature and health status of everyone who enter the community. 

The latest data released by the city government early Tuesday showed positive infections in Putian city had soared to 85, including 64 confirmed cases and 21 asymptomatic cases. Of the 85 cases, 30 are children aged below 10 years old.

The notice released by the city’s anti-epidemic team early Tuesday said communities in the city must implement strict access control within 24 hours. Those who do not conform to anti-epidemic requirements will not be allowed to enter. Residents who cause epidemic transmission resulting from violating anti-epidemic rules will be held accountable. 

Facing a spike in new cases, Putian city government at the press conference announced to launch city-wide nucleic acid tests. Two rounds of nucleic acid tests were carried out in Fengting county of Putian city, and the third round is now ongoing. If it’s necessary Putian will expand further scale of mass nucleic acid tests and will give multiple rounds of tests to key regions, the anti-epidemic team said. 

Multiple regions throughout China have again started to screen out potential COVID-19 infections as the National Health Commission said roughly 30,000 people travelled out of the province recently.

A Baidu “migration map” showing the most popular travel routes out of Putian city between August 8 and September 11 reveals that most people traveled from Putian to South China's Guangdong Province, East China’s Shanghai, and neighboring Jiangxi and Jiangsu provinces. 

Global Times