More than ten provinces where covid-19 cases have been confirmed since October 17 have unveiled new measures to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Authorities in Beijing have urged residents not to leave the city unless necessary, and restricted those in regions with new infections from entering the Chinese capital, Xu Hejian, a spokesperson for the Beijing municipal government, told a press briefing on Oct 25.
All those traveling into Beijing should have their health codes checked at their arrival airport, railway station or bus station, and those without a green health code should be barred from boarding planes, trains and buses, Xu said.
Authorities have suspended trans-provincial group tours. Local parks, theaters and museums are permitted to operate at 75 percent capacity and community recreational facilities such as chess and card rooms are temporarily closed.
Authorities have encouraged the use of video conferences to replace in-person meetings and forums to help reduce the number of people coming into Beijing, the official said.
Beijing started rolling out COVID-19 vaccination on Oct 28 for children aged between 3 and 11 in the Chinese capital.
Children who have been infected with COVID-19 can receive the vaccine jab six months after the infection.
Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control, said at a news conference on Thursday that people's health status should be carefully monitored and registered when they enter or return from outside.
Beijng reported five locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases and two asymptomatic carriers from Wednesday to Thursday, including one community worker. All the infected people were from Changping district, Pang said.
She said epidemiological surveys are being conducted, with laboratory testing and close contacts traced to examine risk points and determine appropriate control measures for specific places.
Authorities in Shandong province have halted trans-provincial group tours. The Shandong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism issued an emergency notice on October 27 to suspend the operation of trans-provincial group tours and "air tickets + hotels" tourism products by travel agencies and online tourism companies in Shandong province.
The Department of Culture and Tourism of Shandong Province also requested efforts to strengthen the prevention and control of the epidemic for tourists in transit by ensuring health monitoring and safety management.
Ruili City of Yunnan Province has established a three-level management system comprising of closed zone or red zone, control zone or yellow zone and prevention zone or green zone, and the prerequisite for leaving Ruili has also been adjusted accordingly.
Persons in the prevention zone or green zone who apply for leaving Ruili due to reasons other than illness, funeral or work will be subject to a 7-day centralized quarantine at their own expense.
Persons in the city's control area or yellow area who apply to leave Ruili due to reasons other than illness, funeral or work will be subject to a 14-day centralized quarantine at their own expense.
In order to speed up nucleic acid testing, Hohhot, capital city of Inner Mongolia, has set up a "Huoyan" laboratory to ensure 300 thousand test samples per day.
The Chinese mainland on Wednesday reported 23 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, the National Health Commission said in its daily report on Thursday.
Of the new local cases, eight were reported in Gansu, seven in Inner Mongolia, three in Beijing, two in Ningxia, and one each in Heilongjiang, Shandong and Sichuan, the commission said.
