Residents in Manzhouli, North China's Inner Mongolia, are queuing for the second round of mass nucleic acid testing on November 29, 2021. Photo: CFP

Manzhouli in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region was placed under lockdown with domestic airlines and railway and bus transportation suspended since Tuesday morning, after five COVID-19 positive cases were found in the city, three months since it was placed under lockdown last time. 

The city reported five people tested positive after COVID-19 nucleic acid testing on Tuesday morning and it urgently issued a city-wide notice to inform local residents not to leave their communities unless necessary. 

As the only port and border city on the mainland that integrates road, railway and airline transportation, the city has been hit by several rounds of flare-ups since COVID-19 first broke out. It is three months since the city was placed under lockdown last time after a flare-up on November 27, 2021 which caused a total of 548 confirmed local cases. 

Since 8 am on Tuesday, the city was locked down with strict traffic control on the entrances and exists to the city. Public transportation including road transportation, buses and taxies were suspended. All domestic airlines and railway transportations were also suspended. 

The local health authority has launched city-wide nucleic acid testing among local residents since 2 pm on Tuesday to trace close contacts of the infected people and will strictly practice centralized quarantine and medical observation measures, according to a press briefing held by the city's epidemic prevention and control headquarters on Tuesday afternoon. 

The communities of the confirmed infections have been placed under round-the-clock lockdowns with all personnel and vehicles banned from entering or exiting. 

Besides, the city will detail the work procedure of transferring personnel within a closed loop. 

Except those public facilities that secure people's livelihood, all commercial venues are ordered to suspend operation and all gathering activities are banned. 

Global Times