BEIJING, Jan. 12 -- China is using a combination of measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 amid the latest resurgence of the virus in Beijing and provinces including Hebei, Liaoning and Heilongjiang.
The number of confirmed and asymptomatic infections of COVID-19 in north China's Hebei Province has continued to increase since the province reported a new locally transmitted confirmed case on Jan. 2. As of 10 a.m. Tuesday, a total of 326 locally transmitted confirmed cases and 234 asymptomatic cases had been reported, vice governor of Hebei Xu Jianpei said Tuesday.
The provincial capital Shijiazhuang, where more than 300 confirmed COVID-19 cases have been found since the beginning of this year, launched the second round of citywide nucleic acid testing on Tuesday, said Meng Xianghong, vice mayor of the city.
The testing is expected to take only two days, Ma Yujun, acting mayor of the city, told a press conference. There will be sufficient professional staff for sampling, information input and maintaining order at every sampling site to ensure that work is carried out in an orderly and efficient manner.
Residents register their personal information before the COVID-19 test at a community COVID-19 testing site in Qiaoxi District of Shijiazhuang, capital of north China's Hebei Province, Jan. 12, 2021. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)
On Jan. 8, a nucleic acid test laboratory named Huoyan, or Fire Eye, was built in only 10 hours and put into use in 21 hours in Shijiazhuang. It can test up to 1 million samples a day, significantly improving the city's testing capability.
"In the process of combating the epidemic, early and accurate detection is particularly important," said Du Yutao, board member of BGI Group, a Shenzhen-based biotech company which has established Huoyan labs in 16 cities across China and in 17 countries and regions across the world.
Du, together with an experienced working group sent by BGI Group, arrived in her hometown Shijiazhuang on Jan. 6.
"I don't know how to describe my feelings when I saw my hometown fall into silence," said Du. "But we have accumulated rich experience and improved testing capacity. I believe the city will surely succeed in fighting the epidemic."
