Chinese city residents queue in snow for 4th round of Covid-19 tests in as many days
- Manzhouli, a city in Inner Mongolia at the centre of China’s latest outbreak, began the latest round of tests immediately after finishing the last one
- Residents waited in line in the snow on a day when the morning temperature dropped to below minus 19 Celsius
Hundreds of thousands of residents in the northern Chinese city of Manzhouli queued in the snow and sub-zero temperatures on Wednesday to be tested for Covid-19 for the fourth time in four days after it became the centre of the country’s latest outbreak.
The Inner Mongolian city, which lies on the Russian border, contributed 72 of 91 symptomatic local cases, while the adjacent Zhalainuoer district reported the rest, the National Health Commission said on Wednesday.
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Two asymptomatic cases, which China does not count towards its case tally, were also found in the nearby New Barag Right banner.
The new cases were the most found in a single day since November 2 and much higher than the 21 cases reported a day earlier.
The latest outbreak in Inner Mongolia, the source of 134 new cases reported since Saturday, underscored China’s continued difficulty in controlling cases in border areas.
Another outbreak that began in the region in mid-October spread to more than 20 provinces.
Manzhouli reported three asymptomatic patients on Saturday and has since become the epicentre of China’s latest outbreak, with nearly three quarters of Inner Mongolia’s cases being detected in the city of about 150,000.
“Limited outbreaks have been found within family, residential communities and schools in Manzhouli city,” Cui Gang, a health official with the State Council’s anti-epidemic task force, said on Tuesday.
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“The risk of community transmission is relatively high, and we are inspecting people who are at risk of bringing the virus out of the city.”
Manzhouli health officials said on Wednesday that they had completed the third round of mass testing, which found 57 positive cases, and had launched the fourth round at 8am.
Frontline medical workers in hazmat suits and face shields ushered Manzhouli residents in heavy coats to their community test sites, some of which required them to queue in snow and sub-zero temperatures.
The temperature reached a low of minus 19.6 degrees Celsius (minus 3.3 Fahrenheit) in the morning and reached a high of minus 4.4 degrees on Wednesday, according to China’s National Meteorological Centre.
“As of 2pm, we have collected samples from 135,472 people and mass sample collection is still under way in an orderly fashion,” Song Jixiang, Manzhouli’s deputy mayor told a Wednesday press conference.
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Schools and kindergartens have been closed since Tuesday, while university students and staff were banned from leaving their campuses.
Manzhouli health authorities said on Wednesday that 26 of the new daily cases were students, most of whom had been to a local cinema. A teacher and labourer who visited the cinema also tested positive.
Most of the city’s cases involved workers in the timber industry, including those in line of wood processing, transport and construction.
Manzhouli has been a hub for timber imports from Russia and home to many firms that produce furniture and other wooden products.
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“Many recent local outbreaks in my country were caused by the pandemic outside our borders, with the virus imported from port cities,” Cui, the health official, said on Tuesday. “This exposes the shortcomings in our anti-epidemic efforts in port cities.”
China also reported 34 imported cases for Tuesday, 22 of which were symptomatic.
