BEIJING: Amid a spattering of local COVID-19 infections, China is ramping up preparedness at fever clinics nationwide and striving to prevent hospital-acquired infections, the National Health Commission said. The border city of Manzhouli in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region reported one new locally transmitted case and one new asymptomatic patient on Thursday, bringing the total number of confirmed infections in the region to 21.The first two cases were detected on Nov 21, according to the local government.
In recent weeks, Shanghai, Tianjin, Qingdao in Shandong province and Shenzhen in Guangdong province have all registered new local infections, with the majority involved in handling cold imported food products from overseas. Wu Liangyou, deputy director of the commission’s disease control bureau, said the colder temperatures in winter and the increase in population mobility and large events in China have all threatened to accelerate the spread of the virus in the country. To cope with the rising risk, Jiao Yahui, an official with the disease control and prevention bureau, said the vital role of fever clinics in sending early alerts should be amplified. She said several domestic outbreaks, including the one in Beijing in June that is linked to a wholesale market and the cluster involving employees at an airport in Shanghai, were first detected in fever clinics after patients tested positive.
Most of the remaining outbreaks were identified thanks to regular screenings and testing in the coldchain sector, she said during a news conference held by the State Council’s Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism. – The Daily Mail-China Daily News exchange item
