Chinese city residents queue in snow for 4th round of Covid-19 tests in as many days
- Manzhouli, a city in Inner Mongolia at the centre of China’s latest outbreak, began the latest round of tests immediately after finishing the last one
- Residents waited in line in the snow on a day when the morning temperature dropped to below minus 19 Celsius
Hundreds of thousands of residents in the northern Chinese city of Manzhouli queued in the snow and sub-zero temperatures on Wednesday to be tested for Covid-19 for the fourth time in four days after it became the centre of the country’s latest outbreak.
The Inner Mongolian city, which lies on the Russian border, contributed 72 of 91 symptomatic local cases, while the adjacent Zhalainuoer district reported the rest, the National Health Commission said on Wednesday.
Two asymptomatic cases, which China does not count towards its case tally, were also found in the nearby New Barag Right banner.
The new cases were the most found in a single day since November 2 and much higher than the 21 cases reported a day earlier.
The latest outbreak in Inner Mongolia, the source of 134 new cases reported since Saturday, underscored China’s continued difficulty in controlling cases in border areas.
Another outbreak that began in the region in mid-October spread to more than 20 provinces.