China locks down city on Russian border after three Covid-19 cases detected
- Manzhouli in Inner Mongolia halts public transport, entertainment, dine-in services and group gatherings and shuts schools, with contact tracing under way
- Mass testing due to begin for population of 300,000, with people told not to leave their homes
China has locked down a small northern city bordering Russia, in its latest move to contain a series of sporadic cases in different parts of the vast country.
Manzhouli in Inner Mongolia went into lockdown on Saturday after three coronavirus cases were identified.
Public transport, entertainment and restaurant dine-in services had been suspended, with schools shut and group gatherings banned, according to local authorities.
Mass testing was due to be launched for the city’s population of around 300,000, and residents had been asked not to leave their homes.
Health authorities had started contact tracing and blocked off the residential areas and workplaces of the three patients.
Medical services would be limited to emergency units at public hospitals, and patients due for treatment at hospitals and clinics, a notice from city authorities said. All entry and exit for elderly homes had also been suspended.
This came as China reported five new local infections from the northeastern port city of Dalian and the Dehong Dai and Jingpo autonomous prefecture in southwestern Yunnan province. There were also 35 imported cases, 20 of those symptomatic.
Separately, health authorities in Shanghai said the three cases they identified on Thursday were found to be part of the same Delta variant transmission chain.
The patients were infected after being exposed to an environment contaminated by an imported virus outside the eastern commercial hub, officials said.
At least three hospitals in Shanghai said they would resume service on Saturday morning. This came after 12 hospitals on Friday shut outpatient and emergency services until further notice to screen “people, places and environment concerned”.
The new cases come after an outbreak of the highly transmissible Delta variant in mid-October infected more than 1,300 people in 21 Chinese provinces, before being contained earlier this month.
The governments of the affected cities had acted swiftly to mass test residents and impose gathering bans.
China has maintained a zero-tolerance policy towards Covid-19, rolling out mass testing, frequent contact tracing, lengthy quarantines and strict border controls.
