CGTN
The city of Hangzhou in east China’s Zhejiang Province is battling an outbreak of the new coronavirus variant Omicron. As of the morning of January 30, Hangzhou had registered 59 confirmed Omicron cases, said Xia Shichang, deputy director of the Zhejiang Health Commission. All the patients are being treated in hospitals, while thousands of people who come into direct or indirect contact with them have been transferred to designated hotels for several rounds of nucleic acid tests to guarantee their health.
Fast and strong testing capabilities will play a key role in containing the outbreak. Many residents in the city’s Binjiang District have already taken several rounds of COVID-19 tests to ensure their health. Local firefighters have helped build several fast nucleic acid test centers, which are able to test millions of people a day. And thousands of doctors and nurses have been sent to communities to help speed up the testing process.
Finding infections in direct and indirect contacts as soon as possible is vital. Thousands of people who may have had contacts with confirmed patients have been transferred to designated hotels for quarantine. They are under health monitoring and they will be treated immediately if they test positive. So far Hangzhou has confirmed one high-risk area and over 10 middle-risk areas. People in risk areas are encouraged to stay at home, with several rounds of COVID-19 tests scheduled in the next few days.After preliminary investigation and analysis, Zhejiang health authorities have confirmed that the virus genome detected in Hangzhou is highly similar with a coronavirus sequence sampled abroad on December 11.
