CHINA. Just 18 new confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported Thursday in Hebei province, scene of a concerning recent wave, maintaining a recent confidence-boosting run as Chinese New Year (12-15 February) approaches.
According to the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China, there were 94 indigenous cases on 21 January across 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps on the Chinese mainland, and nine imported cases.
Of the confirmed local infections, 18 were in Hebei province, while Heilongjiang, China’s northernmost province, reported 47 new cases. 19 indigenous cases were recorded in Jilin province, six in Shanghai (the first in two months), three in Beijing municipality and one in Shanxi province.
State-owned media Global Times reported that Beijing is strictly implementing the new ‘14+7+7’ model – a 14-day centralised medical quarantine, one week of home isolation or centralised quarantine, and another week of health monitoring – for all inbound travellers from overseas.
Since Tiangongyuan in Beijing’s Daxing district reported the first confirmed COVID-19 case on Sunday, the district has seen 16 cases in under a week.
As reported, the situation is being closely monitored by the travel retail community given the impending Chinese New Year holidays, a festive period that sees a mass migration of travel across China, including to the duty free hotspot of Hainan island. There, travel retailers are still expecting a boom period but softer than had been anticipated before the latest outbreak.
Global Times reported today that China’s State Council has introduced a series of polices to discourage people from gathering in crowds on public transportation and in schools and cinemas to avoid spreading COVID-19 during this year’s Spring Festival.
During the holiday period, travellers are encouraged to use facial recognition and health codes, as well as social distancing, the report said.
