In May, another city — Wuhu in Anhui province — offered residents up to 6,000 yuan if they reported wrongdoing in medical institutions, such as hospitals failing to test patients.

Disease prevention and control institutions at all levels in the country already have a duty to report infectious diseases. But it is not clear whether all medical institutions are covered by the law, and some officials may be reluctant to report cases for fear of being blamed.

Though the Delta variant has spread to more than half of China’ s provinces, there have been no new cases in Fuxin. Liaoning as a whole has reported three locally transmitted cases since the latest outbreak began last month.

03:18

Mass Covid-19 testing under way across China amid rising infections fuelled by Delta variant

Mass Covid-19 testing under way across China amid rising infections fuelled by Delta variant

Vice-premier Sun Chunlan has said local authorities should report every positive case and quarantine those who needed to to minimize the risk of the outbreak, according to state news agency Xinhua.

The outbreak in Zhengzhou was caused by an imported case being treated at a local hospital and Sun called on local officials to learn from the case.

“Hospital directors and medical staff must take responsibility and show zero tolerance to in-hospital infections,” Sun said.

Most of Friday’s new infections, 61 in total, were reported in the eastern province of Jiangsu, where Nanjing and another hotspot, Yangzhou, are located.

The central province of Hunan reported nine new cases and the neighbouring province of Hubei reported six.

In addition to the 80 local cases, 58 asymptomatic infections were also reported on Friday, 37 of them imported and 21 locally transmitted, but China does not include these in its confirmed infection tally.

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Yangzhou accounted for 58 of the new cases. The cluster in the city has been traced to a 64-year-old woman who returned from Nanjing and visited several mahjong parlours before testing positive last Wednesday.

Of the 220 confirmed cases in the city, 83 can be traced to local mahjong parlours, according to local health authorities. Forty of the 83 cases are over 70 years old.

The transmission rate among seniors has made the situation more tense compared to other places. Currently, 14 severe cases and two critical cases have been reported in Yangzhou.

Responding to the growing outbreak, the authorities have ordered the closure of public venues such as cinemas, parks and restaurants in high and medium-risk areas.

China currently has five high-risk areas and 159 medium-risk areas.

02:23

Covid-19 returns to China’s Wuhan as Delta variant spreads to 10 provinces

Covid-19 returns to China’s Wuhan as Delta variant spreads to 10 provinces

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has asked all travel agencies and online platforms to stop organising trips to high and medium-risk areas.

More than 1,150 A-rated attractions across China, the highest level for scenic spots, have been temporarily closed to visitors since Wednesday, Yu Changguo, an official with the ministry, told a press conference on Thursday.

Over 250 libraries and 236 cultural centres were also closed, he said.

Meanwhile, schools in high and medium-risk regions have been told to postpone their autumn semester.

“Whether the autumn semester will start as scheduled depends on the local epidemic prevention and control situations,” Liu Peijun, from the Ministry of Education, said.

As China steps up border controls to manage the outbreaks, 10 imported cases – nine from Myanmar and one from Laos – and three asymptomatic ones were reported in the southwestern province of Yunnan.

Chinese vice-premier warns of ‘uncertain’ Covid-19 situation

The province borders Myanmar, which reported over 4,000 daily cases on average in July.

Yunnan announced on Thursday that it had suspended travel to other provinces until the situation stablilises, according to state broadcaster CCTV.