-- China's Xinjiang is dealing with a new COVID-19 outbreak in its southern prefecture of Kashgar.
-- The local government and Xinjiang at large have launched emergency responses immediately, with medical and work teams sent to the prefecture for support.
-- For residents in other parts of Xinjiang, life and work go on generally as usual with necessary epidemic control measures in place.
by Xinhua writers Zhang Zhongkai, Xu Ruiqing, He Jun, Pan Ying, Ma Kai and Gao Han
URUMQI, Oct. 28 -- Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is dealing with a new COVID-19 outbreak in its southern prefecture of Kashgar.
Xinjiang had a total of 22 existing confirmed cases and 161 asymptomatic ones as of Tuesday, all in Kashgar's Shufu County, the regional health commission said Wednesday.
Equipped with the country's tried and true emergency response tips, Xinjiang is responding to the latest epidemic with speed and sophistication.
SPEEDY RESPONSE
The new alarm was sounded Saturday when one asymptomatic COVID-19 case was reported in Kashgar.
The new case, a 17-year-old female villager from Shufu County, tested positive for the virus during the county's routine nucleic acid testing, a measure introduced in August in Xinjiang to improve COVID-19 alert timeliness.
A medical worker collects a sample from a person for nucleic acid testing in Shufu County of Kashgar Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Oct. 26, 2020. (Xinhua/Hu Huhu)
The local government and Xinjiang at large launched emergency responses immediately, with medical teams and work teams in and outside of Xinjiang sent to the county and the prefecture for support.
All close contacts have been quarantined for medical observation. Massive nucleic acid tests are being taken. An epidemiological investigation into the case has been launched.
"We have been racing against time," said Kasmu Ehet, a medical worker in Shufu who stayed up late to conduct nucleic acid tests. "Every second counts in stemming the spread of the virus."
By 5 p.m. Tuesday, Kashgar had finished nucleic acid testing for everyone in the prefecture, where some 4.74 million people have been tested in about four days.
