Citizens in Jilin Province receive nucleic acid testing on March 9, 2022. Photo: VCG

Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan called on local officials in Northeast China's Jilin Province to strictly implement epidemic control and prevention measures, so as to contain the spread of COVID-19 as soon as possible.

Sun, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, was on an inspection tour to Jilin from Sunday to Wednesday. She visited local educational institutions that have been hit by the latest wave of the epidemic, as well as hospitals and residential areas, and was introduced to the province's current efforts in testing, quarantine and treatment, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Noting that the epidemic is still at a peak of transmission in Jilin and that community infections need to be stamped out, Sun emphasized mass testing should be conducted, and newly discovered infections ought to be reported and receive treatment in the shortest time possible. She also urged local authorities to enhance the management of quarantine sites and medical institutions, so as to prevent cross-infections.

The living condition of residents under quarantine must be ensured, and the need for medical services, especially from pregnant women, children and patients with acute diseases, must be addressed properly, said Sun.

Sun also called for enhancement on local education institutes to normalize anti-epidemic measures and promote antigen test - testing as many as 20 percent of their total personnel every day - to identify potential outbreaks as soon as possible. 

Jilin published a manual for the antigen self-tests on Tuesday, which specified that people under home or centralized quarantine should take the tests by themselves every day in the first five days of their isolation, along with regular nucleic acid testing. The province announced on Monday that it had acquired 12 million antigen testing kits.

This wave of outbreak in Jilin was caused by the BA.2 lineage of the Omicron variant. Ninety eight percent of the cases are discovered in the cities of Changchun and Jilin, according to Xinhua.  

The province discovered 742 confirmed cases on Wednesday with 455 in Jilin and 268 in Changchun as well as 415 silent virus carriers, statistics showed. 

Global Times-Agency