Harbin officials urged to take control of epidemic

Heilongjiang province's COVID-19 epidemic control leading team summoned officials from its capital Harbin to appear before it on Wednesday, urging them to resolutely contain the spread of the epidemic and ensure that there is no risk of a rebound from local outbreaks, according to Heilongjiang Daily.

Provincial Governor Wang Wentao, who is also head of the epidemic control department's headquarters, criticized their unsatisfactory performance in the epidemic control and prevention work.

"The current overall situation is stabilizing, and phased achievement in epidemic containment has been further consolidated across the country," he said. "However, cluster infections have appeared in Harbin, reflecting obvious weaknesses and problems in the city's epidemic prevention and control work."

Since April 9, Harbin has reported 23 confirmed local COVID-19 cases and 15 local asymptomatic cases as of Wednesday.

The Harbin Health Commission noted a recently confirmed case, surnamed Cao, as an example of the cluster problem. Cao is a close contact of a woman, surnamed Han, who arrived from the United States on March 19.

Cao's case was reported on Tuesday. She and Han live in the same building.

"The confirmed and asymptomatic cases include some of Cao's family members and friends," Liu Nan, an official with the Harbin health commission, said at a news conference on Wednesday. "They had frequent family gatherings and dining gatherings, including a gathering that brought seven people together on March 29, causing five members to become infected."

An 87-year-old male confirmed case, who was a close contact of one of Cao's family members, received treatment for a cerebral stroke at two hospitals in Harbin between April 2 to April 8, causing several patients and their family members in the same ward to become infected, according to the city's health commission.

"All the cases have obvious characteristics of cluster infections," Liu said."All related close contacts and high-risk people have been placed in quarantine, and we have finished coronavirus testing for 1,300 of them."

Wang pointed out that relevant departments and officials must be held responsible based on the accountability mechanism.

"Harbin should tighten management of communities and villages," he said. "The government should continue to remind residents to stick to good habits, including maintaining good hygiene, wearing masks and avoiding gatherings and nonessential outings."

"It is also necessary to intensify the protective work in hospitals to prevent any cross infection," he said. "To screen asymptomatic infected patients, Harbin should take the lead in encouraging more citizens to do coronavirus tests at their own expense."