Covid-19 infections rise in eastern China prompts more mass testing
- Yangzhou city in Jiangsu province at centre of outbreak reports 54 out of 90 new local cases as sixth round of tests begins
- Cluster has been traced to a 64-year-old woman who visited several mahjong parlours before testing positive
Designated hospitals, which are better equipped to treat severely ill patients, will need to be vacated within 24 hours of the emergence of local clusters, according to the State Council’s Covid-19 task force. An earlier version of the notice, on the government cabinet’s website, gave a 48-hour timeframe.
The hospitals should isolate Covid-19 patients in a special ward building and use different sets of medical equipment so as not to infect other patients, the guidelines said.
“Designated hospitals have seen Covid-19 infections as the country fights virus variants. We should not be numb, feel tired of fighting, put faith in luck or let our guard down.”
The guidelines follow a cluster of cases in the flood-hit city of Zhengzhou, Henan province, which were traced back to the Sixth People’s Hospital, designated to treat imported infections.
In October last year, the port city of Qingdao in Shandong province also saw an outbreak originating from a hospital after two infected port workers were sent to a CAT scan room there.