Asia Today: China reports 360 cases south of Beijing

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BEIJING (AP) — More than 360 people have tested positive in a growing COVID-19 outbreak south of Beijing in neighboring Hebei province.

China’s National Health Commission reported Sunday that 69 new cases had been confirmed in the latest 24-hour period, including 46 in Hebei.

The outbreak has raised particular concern because of Hebei’s proximity to the nation’s capital. Travel between the two has been restricted, with workers from Hebei having to show proof of employment in Beijing to enter the city.

Hebei has recorded 183 confirmed cases and an additional 181 asymptomatic cases over the last eight days. China does not include those who test positive but do not show symptoms in its official case count.

Almost all the cases are in Shijuazhuang, the provincial capital, which is about 260 kilometers (160 miles) southwest of Beijing. A handful have also been found in Xingtai city, 110 kilometers (68 miles) farther south.

Both cities have conducted mass testing of millions of residents, suspended public transportation and restricted residents to their communities or villages for one week.

Beijing reported one new case Sunday, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 32 in a smaller outbreak that started about three weeks ago. Almost all the cases have been in Shunyi in the city’s northeastern suburbs.

China records first Covid death since May as WHO team arrives in Wuhan
Delegation arrives as China suffers growing outbreak of coronavirus in Hebei province
Helen Davidson in Taipei
Thu 14 Jan 2021 09.22 GMT
Mainland China has reported its first Covid-19 death in eight months, as most of a team of experts from the World Health Organization landed in Wuhan to investigate the origins of the pandemic.

Two members of the team were stopped in Singapore after tests detected antibodies, while the rest of the delegation began quarantine in Wuhan for two weeks before beginning their inquiries.

Their arrival, which was live-streamed by state media, came after almost a year of negotiations with the WHO, and diplomatic spats between China – which has been trying to change the narrative about where the virus came from – and other countries who demanded it allow a “robust” independent investigation.

No details of China’s 4,635th death were provided on Thursday, except that the person was in Hebei province, the main site of China’s worst outbreak in months and where new lockdowns have been imposed on tens of millions of people. It is the first death from the disease since May.

China’s national health commission reported 138 new cases of confirmed Covid-19, and 78 new asymptomatic cases, which they count separately. It is the highest daily tally in China since March and comes weeks before the start of the busy lunar new year holiday period.

Of the 138 cases, 124 were local transmissions including 81 in Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing, and 43 in the north-eastern Heilongjiang province. All new cases in Heilongjiang were close contacts or secondary close contacts of earlier infections in a Wangkui county village, authorities said.

In response, authorities have locked down major cities home to tens of millions of people, and enacted tough travel restrictions. Anyone seeking to enter Beijing for work from surrounding Hebei must provide proof of employment and a negative test. The coastal city of Shanghai has forbidden entry to residents of designated streets within middle-high risk areas, and those from elsewhere in the designated areas will be subject to 14 days quarantine on arrival and testing. The regulation was announced on Wednesday and is valid until the end of March.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... s-in-wuhan