China recorded 76 new Chinese coronavirus cases in its eastern province of Jiangsu on July 25, the nation’s highest daily total of such infections since January, Reuters reported on Monday.
“As of the end of July 25, Nanjing had reported a total of 75 local [Chinese coronavirus] cases since its latest outbreak emerged last week,” a health official for Jiangsu province, of which Nanjing is the capital, told reporters at a news briefing on Monday.
Jiangsu health officials detected a single coronavirus case outside of Nanjing in the nearby city of Suqian on July 25.
“Taxis and cars on ride-hailing platforms should not leave the city, and eight long-distance shuttle bus stations will be suspended from July 27,” Nanjing municipal authorities announced Monday via social media.
“The city [Nanjing] reported 31 new locally-transmitted cases on Tuesday, bringing the total infections to 112,” China’s state-run Global Times reported on July 27.
Nanjing is home to roughly 9.3 million people. Chinese health officials say they traced the city’s latest coronavirus outbreak to the Nanjing Lukou International Airport, which processed over 30 million passengers in 2019.
Nanjing’s newest cluster infection “first emerged among airplane cabin cleaners of the Nanjing Lukou International Airport,” Ding Jie, Vice-Director for Nanjing’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters at a press conference on July 27.
“The virus has since spread through their work environment and social activities,” Ding said.
“So far, the virus cluster in Nanjing has involved airport workers and their contacts, but new infections were also reported among flight passengers in other parts of China who have visited the Nanjing airport,” China’s official state-run press agency, Xinhua, reported on Tuesday.
South China’s Guangdong province on July 22 reported a new case of the Chinese coronavirus in “a flight passenger returning from Nanjing,” according to Xinhua.
“Sichuan Province in southwest China on Saturday [July 24] also reported a confirmed COVID-19 [Chinese coronavirus] case in the city of Mianyang, after it launched mass testing among travelers from Nanjing,” the news agency revealed.
Northeast China’s Liaoning province detected three new coronavirus cases in the city of Dalian on July 26 among individuals who had transited through Nanjing Lukou International Airport on a layover and “spent around two hours there,” according to Xinhua.
“Five provinces and nine cities have reported cases related to the Nanjing flare-up, including South China’s Guangdong Province, Southwest China’s Sichuan Province, East China’s Anhui Province, and Northeast China’s Liaoning Province,” the Global Times wrote on Tuesday, supporting Xinhua’s report.
In an effort to contain Nanjing’s coronavirus epidemic from spreading further beyond the city, local Communist Party officials on Tuesday began “strictly controlling” the “entrances and exits for all residential communities in Nanjing … banning all package or food deliveries from entering,” according to the Global Times.
“Starting from Tuesday, Nanjing suspended the operation of … the city’s bus tour services. Some 19 bus lines that had routes traveling to adjacent areas were limited within the city,” the newspaper revealed.
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