Staff members for COVID-19 response stand guard at a checkpoint in Tongan district of Xiamen city, Southeast China's Fujian Province, September 23, 2021. Photo:Xinhua

Xiamen city in East China's Fujian Province has cleared all its high- and middle-risk areas for COVID-19 as of Thursday and declared victory. Northeast China's Heilongjiang, another province hit by the virus in the latest flare-up, also announced that the epidemic is gradually leveling off with zero infections reported in six days. 

Local officials in Xiamen declared victory on the epidemic prevention and control of the recent outbreak of COVID-19 at a news conference on Thursday. They also announced that all regions in the city have been downgraded to low-risk for COVID-19. 

According to the officials, the 10th round of mass nucleic acid tests in the city's Tong'an district, the last district to report locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, received all negative results. The city has not reported locally transmitted COVID-19 cases in 14 days since September 23. 

All check points on the exits from the city were lifted on Thursday evening and people leaving Xiamen will no longer be required to hold a negative nucleic acid testing result for COVID-19, according to the news release. 

Starting Friday, scenic spots, tourist attractions, parks and other outdoor and indoor public facilities will reopen in an orderly manner. At the same time, the city's universities, high schools, elementary schools and kindergartens will also resume in-person classes in following weeks.

In the meantime, officials reminded Xiamen citizens that the city is still facing huge pressure from imported cases and local flare-ups. "We must be prudent, strict and tighten the epidemic prevention and control, and ensure safety and the orderly restoration of production and life," local officials said.

Northeast China's Heilongjiang, another province that has been struck by a COVID-19 outbreak, also announced on Thursday that the epidemic is gradually leveling off. 

There is currently no out-of-province spillover, no cross-infection at isolation sites, and no hospital-acquired infections occurring in this outbreak, said local officials at a news conference on Thursday. 

All 96 patients in the current flare-up in Heilongjiang were admitted to the Heilongjiang Provincial COVID-19 Treatment Center. As of early Thursday, 12 patients were discharged and transferred to the rehabilitation unit while 84 patients remain hospitalized with stable vital signs.

On Wednesday, the Chinese mainland reported zero locally transmitted COVID-19 cases and two asymptomatic infections, both at the Northwest China's Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.