A medical worker works at a nucleic acid testing lab in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province on December 26, 2021. Photo: VCG

Despite large numbers of newly reported cases in the past several days, Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, said it has curbed the rapid rise in COVID-19 cases caused by community infections, which will provide support for further adjustment in control measures in some regions.

Compared with initial spread of the pandemic, the city has contained community infection after several rounds of large-scale nucleic acid testing and 12 days of strict control, said Chen Baozhong, director of Xi'an Disease Control and Prevention Center at a press conference on Tuesday.

Confirmed cases are mainly detected in centralized quarantine places and lockdown areas in the recent three days. This means that the infection risk is lower outside these areas, which provides support for the local government to further judge and adjust control measures in some areas, said Chen

Xi'an is still in a tough period of controlling the pandemic and high attention should be paid to urban villages, higher education institutions and specialized secondary schools, local government officials emphasized.

There have been 274 confirmed cases in "urban villages" in Xi'an and 195 cases in colleges and specialized secondary schools, according to the press conference.

According to the local health commission, Xi'an reported 95 confirmed COVID-19 cases on Monday, 90 on Sunday and 122 on Saturday, a drop after the city recorded more than 150 daily new infections on the previous seven days. The city has so far reported a total of 1,758 confirmed cases since December 9, 2021.

Global Times