Shijiazhuang in North China's Hebei Province starts its second round of mass nucleic acid testing on January 12.Photo: VCG

Areas affected by the ongoing epidemic are adjusting their prevention and control policies, as Shijiazhuang in North China's Hebei Province announced Sunday that nucleic acid screening will be carried out in some areas of the city for five consecutive days starting Monday.

According to the Health Commission of Hebei Province, two new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Shijiazhuang on Sunday. A total of 734 asymptomatic patients were newly infected across the province, including 639 in Shijiazhuang.

Regarding the current epidemic prevention and control situation and the new characteristics of the novel coronavirus mutation, nucleic acid screening of all residents in Qiaoxi district, Chang'an district, Yuhua district, Xinhua district, and Xunhuan Chemical Industrial Park will be carried out from Monday to Friday to concentrate efforts to strengthen epidemic prevention and control in key areas and contain the spread of the epidemic as soon as possible, according to the general headquarters for epidemic prevention and control of Shijiazhuang through a statement issued on Sunday night.

Except for those involved in essential operations, market security, public services and epidemic prevention and control, residents are asked to remain at home, and minimize outdoor movement.

To meet the daily needs of residents, each family can arrange one person to go out for two hours a day to purchase daily necessities. The person must be able to present a 24-hour negative nucleic acid result and a certificate of nucleic acid test on the same day, the statement said.

Yellow or red health codes will be assigned to persons who have not undergone nucleic acid testing for more than 24 hours. All districts will designate hospitals, publish the phone number of the general duty and fever clinic, and ensure that people in high-risk areas, isolation sites, home quarantine and health monitoring in their jurisdiction can seek medical care.

During this period, residents in Shijiazhuang are urged not to leave the city other than for essential travel, and those who do need to leave should report to the destination in advance. Airports, bus stations and other transportation stations will strictly check negative nucleic acid certificates taken twice within 48 hours.

Baiyun district in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province also announced Monday that subway and bus services will be suspended from Monday until Friday as there were 384 new local confirmed cases in the province on Sunday, including 296 in Guangzhou, and 7,885 new asymptomatic cases were reported in Guangzhou.

In addition to ensuring that vehicles related to basic urban operation and epidemic prevention and control are allowed to pass on the premise of implementing corresponding management measures, other vehicles including electric vehicles and bicycles in principle are not allowed to move, the headquarters of the Guangzhou Baiyun district epidemic prevention and control announced in a statement on Monday.

Communities, urban villages and industrial parks will be subject to closed-loop management, and measures such as temperature checking, site code scanning and negative nucleic acid testing within 24 hours will be strictly implemented at entrance points.

All colleges and universities, vocational colleges and technical colleges will also be placed under closed-loop management. Kindergartens and primary and secondary schools will suspend back-to-school and offline teaching. Off-campus training institutions will suspend offline teaching, while nurseries and custodians for children will also suspend services temporarily, the statement said.

Except for the normal operation of water, electricity, fuel oil, gas, communications, sanitation, the supply of grain, oil, meat and vegetables, logistics, supermarkets, pharmacies, medical institutions, catering enterprises and other industries and essential businesses, all other venues and business sites in the city will be temporarily closed and a negative nucleic acid test within 24 hours is required to enter these premises.

Further, all towns and streets have set up special service support teams and service hotlines and medical consultation hotlines to respond to public demand in a timely manner, the statement noted.

Global Times