Booster shots recommended

The recent resurgence of COVID-19 has hit 16 provincial regions, with three high-risk areas－one in Beijing, one in Inner Mongolia and one in Heilongjiang－and 46 medium-risk areas.

From 12 pm Tuesday to 2 pm Wednesday, Beijing reported five new locally transmitted cases. All are in the city's north Changping district.

"Beijing is still facing a complicated epidemic control situation, and safety precautions on all forms of transportation need to be strengthened to reduce infection risks," Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a news conference.

The city government continues to ask its residents not to leave Beijing unless absolutely necessary. Residents are not encouraged to have weddings or gatherings of family and friends at present.

"Many of those confirmed cases had adopted some measures to prevent the virus from further spreading when they knew that they might very likely be infected," Pang said.

"The virus is the enemy for each one of us. We should shoulder our responsibility to combat it and report to local health departments as soon as possible when we are at risk of infection."

In Ruili, a border city in Southwest China's Yunnan province, efforts from the local health department and residents have been made to curb imported cases.

To strengthen prevention and control efforts, police, health workers and villagers are on call 24 hours a day to clamp down on illegal migration and to promote health guidance and vaccination.

"Our village has been under quarantine since March this year. From March until now, home quarantine was lifted for only a month," said Yu Ying, a local resident. She said her son was sent to her family members living in a neighboring city. "We hope to see an end to the pandemic as soon as possible."

So far, a growing number of regions, including Beijing and the provinces of Hubei and Liaoning, have expanded their COVID-19 vaccination programs to cover children from the age of 3, rather than limiting inoculations to those age 12 and above, as was previously the case.

On Wednesday, Zhong, the academician, also expressed confidence that sporadic COVID-19 outbreaks in China's northwestern and northeastern regions can be effectively controlled in about a month with government efforts.

Li Yingqing contributed to this story.