National Hygiene and Health Service “Confirmed reverse inflow, imported frozen food is the source of infection”
Beijing, “2 weeks of quarantine for foreigners, 2 more weeks of observation”
Spreading community infection… “60% reduction in New Year’s train ticket reservations”
On the 16th, residents are collecting specimens for corona 19 diagnostic tests at a simple test center located in a residential complex in Shijiazhuang, Chengdu, Hebei Province, China, where the spread of Corona 19 continues. Shijiazhuang/AFP Yonhap News
The quarantine authorities argued that the continued re-proliferation of Corona 19 in northeastern China during the year-end and New Year is a phenomenon caused by external factors such as contaminated imported frozen foods and confirmed overseas reverse inflows. Summarizing reports from the government on the 17th, Ma Xiaowei, head of the National Hygiene and Health Committee, argued in a briefing the day before, saying, “The spread of Corona 19 mainly in rural areas shows that the recent preventive control measures have been loosened.” Ma said, “Sichuan, Liaoning, Hebei, and Heilongjiang provinces, including Beijing, have re-proliferated corona19 infection since December of last year. The infection that follows has something in common.” China is the only country that claims the possibility of spreading Corona 19 from contaminated imported frozen food. As the number of local infection cases increased during the year-end and New Year holidays, the number of new confirmed cases in China exceeded three digits a day in about 10 months. As a result, the quarantine authorities have blocked several places, including Shijiazhuang in Hebei Province, to prevent the spread of infection, and about 28 million people have actually entered home quarantine. Earlier this month, in addition to the two-week quarantine of the existing designated facilities (hotels), the capital Beijing quarantine authorities, which required medical observation for one week, plan to increase the mandatory “observation period” after quarantine by an additional week, said. According to the results of the China National Health and Health Commission, on the 16th, 96 people, including 72 people in Hebei Province, Heilongjiang Province (12 people), Jilin Province (10 people), and Beijing (2 people), were newly confirmed. The number of asymptomatic infections that the Chinese authorities exclude from confirmed cases also increased by 103. As the sense of crisis rises, the procession for returning home during the Lunar New Year holidays is expected to decrease significantly. According to the data on the National Railroad Group, “the number of train tickets reserved for the special transportation period for the Lunar New Year, which will last for 40 days from the 28th, has decreased by nearly 60% from the previous year.” Correspondent from Beijing/Inhwan Jung [email protected]