Currently, Chinese authorities have started to lock down in different provinces neighboring Beijing after a spike in coronavirus cases.
In Hebei this week, the restrictions are some of the strictest since the spread of COVID-19 stalled within the country in March, and came as new waves of the coronavirus hit the U.S. and Europe. China’s initial tough response to the pandemic contributed to a 6.8% contraction in the economy within the first quarter.
The capital of Hebei, Shijiazhuang is located about a three-and-a-half-hour drive southeast of Beijing, reported 50 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 67 asymptomatic ones on Wednesday. It has brought the provincial total to 90 current confirmed cases and 144 asymptomatic cases.s
As per State media, the city has stopped the passengers from going to its train station, suspended long-distance buses, closed schools, and also keeps control over the entering of apartment compounds, when the authorities have already blocked the major highways in the province.
Hebei province began to disclose a few coronavirus cases over the weekend, with state media attributing some to wedding attendees.
Within a few weeks, after Beijing reported a handful of cases in close succession, prompting mass testing in certain districts of the nation’s capital city, new cases were recorded.
Chinese authorizes have flaunted their capabilities of controlling the virus ahead of the developed world. The country’s major economy seems to have grown in 2020. In the last years, officials began to express their concerns about the ongoing pandemic.
Deputy Head of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said in an interview this week that there is an increase in coronavirus cases in the latest Hebei outbreak indicates the virus has spread for a time period.
As per the researcher, the Hebei strains were different from those found in other parts of China and unrelated to the strains in the U.K., but shred some similarities with versions found in Russia.
There are 11 million people in Shijiazhuang and this place is located in the north and almost 10hours distance from the Wuhan in Hubei province, this is where the COVID-19 emerged in late 2019. This disease became a global pandemic within months and affected more than 87 million people worldwide and killed almost 1.8 million.
On Wednesday, Hebei province’s health commission almost 1,000 medical personnel on Wednesday to Shijiazhuang to help with the city’s health-care requirements and mass testing. On Thursday, there were plans to dispatch 2,000 more medical workers.
Chinese authorities are encouraging people to stay in the cities where they will work in the upcoming Lunar New Year vacation next month. During the extended holiday that falls in mid-February, hundreds of millions of people traditionally return to their hometowns or travels.
