Coronavirus: Fresh outbreak continues to spread despite hundreds of Chinese villages being placed under lockdown

A fresh outbreak of coronavirus in northeastern China is continuing to spread despite lockdowns being imposed on hundreds of villages and multiple cities.

A trickle of new cases in Jilin province had initially been attributed to Chinese nationals returning from across the Russian border, largely centred in Shulan city, where a partial lockdown was swiftly imposed on 600,000 residents last weekend.

But by Saturday, the province had reported a total of 125 locally transmitted cases, including two deaths, state media reported. Some 28 patients are still in hospital, 95 have been discharged and nearly 1,000 close contacts are under observation.

In a bid to prevent the virus from spreading further, the majority of transport to 1,205 villages and their surrounding areas has also been halted, NBC News reported officials as saying, in a likely reference to measures imposed last weekend.

Shulan’s mayor, Jin Hua, told a press conference on Saturday that fresh measures had been “strictly implemented in accordance with the central government’s decision-making and the requirements of provinces and cities”.

She added: “After the local cases appeared in our city, the Shulan Municipal Party Committee and the municipal government acted swiftly, entered a state of war in an all-round way, took the most stringent control measures, and went all out to prevent and control the epidemic.”

Nucleic acid tests will be carried out across the entire city, she said, focusing on the residential communities and key areas where new cases have been confirmed. China’s state-run press agency Xinhua reported 40,000 tests have been carried out so far.

More than 500 medical staff also rushed to neighbouring Jilin City to offer their assistance on Sunday as the alert level was raised from medium to high, state-affiliated media reported.

Cluster infections in the city have seen some 8,000 people quarantined, according to the Global Times, after a partial lockdown was reimposed on the city on Wednesday, with long-distance public transport stopped, mass gatherings banned and indoor public venues closed.

China’s vice premier Sun Chunlan – who became the face of efforts to manage Wuhan’s Covid-19 response – visited the province this weekend, demanding local authorities step up their efforts to tackle the new outbreak.

Five officials have been removed from their posts in Jilin City this weekend, including Liu Shijun, deputy director of the city’s health commission, according to CGTN. Shulan’s Communist Party chief Li Pengfei was also ousted on Saturday.

It came as China celebrated a month without any reported coronavirus fatalities on Friday, with plans to further ease pandemic restrictions.

In Shanghai, more students were given the option to return to school on 3 June, although retain the option to attend classes online and forego the strict social distancing and testing regime that comes with physical lessons.

Domestic flights have also resumed to 60 per cent of pre-crisis levels, according to the country’s civil aviation regulator, with numerous tourist sites reopening, such as Beijing’s Forbidden City and Shanghai’s Disneyland resort.

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that China and South Korea have both consulted Japan about loosening border controls on some travellers to help revive business activities between the three nations.