China pandemic control goes rural ahead of Lunar New Year
BEIJING (AP) — China is concentrating its pandemic prevention efforts in the rural areas as officials urge people to not travel home for the Lunar New Year festival while the country combats its most serious latest outbreak of COVID-19.
Authorities said Wednesday local clinics and hospitals in villages need to strengthen their vigilance for any new COVID-19 cases, and local governments must take responsibility at every level — from county to town to village.
The government is bracing for the world's largest annual migration in which hundreds of millions travel home for Lunar New Year break in February, many of them workers from cities going back to their home villages.
“In the period leading up to Lunar New Year, we urge the public that those who do not need to travel, should not travel, and if one must travel, please observe all travel information and try to stagger travel to off-peak times,” Wang Bin, an official with the National Health Commission, told a news conference. “And to do personal protective measures and avoid crowded places with lots of people.”
Meanwhile, millions of people are lining up in freezing temperatures to receive a second round of coronavirus tests in a city south of Beijing that is at the heart of the latest outbreak.
The health commission on Wednesday announced another 90 confirmed cases in Hebei province, whose capital Shijiazhuang has accounted for the vast majority of the recent surge. Another 16 cases were reported in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang and one in the northern province of Shanxi.
China had largely contained domestic spread but frigid winter temperatures have brought new outbreaks, even as China pushes to vaccinate 50 million people by mid-February. The Hebei outbreak is of particular concern because of the province’s close proximity to Beijing....
