The backlash against China’s new coronavirus outbreak continues to gain momentum. Official data released Wednesday (Jan. 13) showed the largest increase in the number of homegrown infections in more than five months, with four cities in Hebei and Heilongjiang under city closure.
Most of the new infections occurred in Hebei province, near Beijing. There are also signs of a worsening outbreak in northeast China, where more than 28 million people have been forced into home quarantine measures.
China’s National health Commission on Wednesday reported 115 new infections nationwide, more than twice the number of cases on Tuesday and the highest number since July 30 last year.
The health commission said 107 of the new cases were indigenous infections. Hebei province accounted for 90 percent of them, while Heilongjiang province saw 16 cases.
The wave of outbreaks comes on the eve of the Chinese New Year, a season when hundreds of millions of people in China usually have to make the journey home. This year’s Spring Festival is expected to see a much smaller number of people, with many provinces and cities asking seasonal workers to stay home for the holidays instead of going out.
Mi Feng, a spokesman for the Health and Welfare Commission, said Wednesday that China’s outbreak this year is characterized by a long duration, wide coverage, rapid spread, an older patient population and a high proportion of rural areas, making the situation “complicated and severe.
Wang Bin, the agency’s CDC oversight specialist, warned people to try to “not travel unless necessary” during the Spring Festival.
Feng Zijian, deputy director of the CDC, also said the current outbreak in China is fragmented and involves many regions. He said that the global epidemic has rebounded sharply since the winter, putting great pressure on China’s “external prevention and importation”.
Feng Zijian stressed that during the Spring Festival, not only the flow of people, the risk of transmission increased, but also increased logistics, imported cold-chain food and other goods will be contaminated by the virus risk will also rise. Feng Zijian said that if these relevant preventive and control measures are implemented, the likelihood of a large-scale epidemic rebound is not high.
Following the closure of the cities of Shijiazhuang, Xingtai and Langfang in Hebei, Suihua in Heilongjiang has also declared a city closure. The entire province of Heilongjiang has declared a state of emergency. Widespread virus testing in Beijing is still underway.
China began vaccinating key populations on Dec. 15 last year and has so far administered more than 10 million doses, Wang Bin said Wednesday. However, the latest phase III trial data for China’s KeXing vaccine released by Brazil on Tuesday showed that the overall effectiveness of the vaccine was only 50.4 percent, barely passing the 50 percent threshold for the Brazilian vaccine to be marketed, nearly 30 percentage points lower than the 79 percent effectiveness value announced by the Chinese company earlier this month.
According to another source, Hebei and Guangdong provinces have announced the postponement of provincial meetings scheduled for January and February due to the seriousness of the epidemic situation. The specific convening time will be decided separately. The so-called two sessions are the annual meetings of the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. The National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference are usually held in March, but so far the NPC and CPPCC have not announced any postponement of their meetings.
Last year’s sessions were both postponed until May due to the severity of the epidemic.
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