After weeks of claiming the coronavirus has been completely eradicated from Wuhan and its surrounding Hubei province, save for a few “imported” infections brought by foreigners and Chinese citizens returning home from abroad, the Chinese government admitted over the weekend that fresh coronavirus outbreaks are occurring in Wuhan and other cities.
AFP reported Chinese officials admitting one positive test from Wuhan on Sunday and five more on Monday, plus 11 “asymptomatic” cases detected in other parts of Hubei province. The Wuhan patients are said to be residents of the same residential compound, a community called Sanmin with about 5,000 occupants, and most of the patients are “older people.”
According to the South China Morning Post, an official named Zhang Yuxin has been sacked as head of the Wuhan branch of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for his “poor control of the disease in the community,” which seems a bit harsh if only six people from the same residential compound have tested positive for the coronavirus after a month of absolutely zero new cases.
“We need to always bear in mind that we have to control both imported cases as well as local cases, and resolutely keep the resurgence of Covid-19 at bay,” CCP officials said on Monday, working in the Party’s favorite talking points about foreign infections and second waves of infection.
Another outbreak was reported in the northeastern city of Shulan, which the SCMP said was in “wartime mode” after 14 new cases were reported in two days.
The city is imposing strict testing requirements for travelers and halting the sale of flu medications so that everyone with coronavirus-like symptoms will report to hospitals. A full lockdown has not been ordered even though at least one person from Shulan has been found in another city with an asymptomatic coronavirus infection. The individual in question was tested after he was detained on suspicion of an unspecified crime.