Just as students started a new semester and were set to celebrate their three-day Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, a fresh COVID-19 cluster epidemic continued to spread throughout the universities on the Chinese mainland.
Since September 1, the most recent COVID-19 epidemic has spread to 29 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous entities. Between 12 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Sunday, the capital city discovered 14 new COVID-19 verified cases, 13 of which are university students, according to the Global Times. Between 3 p.m. on Saturday and 3 p.m. on Sunday, six additional COVID-19 cases at the Communication University of China (CUC) in the Chaoyang area were verified, increasing the total since 12 a.m. on Saturday to 13.
Another 151 teachers and students of the university were transferred to a centralized isolation point on Sunday, said Li Zhong, deputy Party secretary of the CUC, at the press conference.
On Saturday, eight confirmed local cases were reported from 0:00 to 15:00 pm, with seven of the new cases being students on the campus of the CUC, local authorities said.
In another university, the Beijing University of Chemical Technology (BUCT) 41 infections were reported as of Friday, Global Times reported.
The Deputy Director of the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Liu Xiaofeng said, “It is a critical period for schools to deal with the epidemic on campus.”
He urged schools to strengthen the management of epidemic prevention work, including vaccination for returned students, implementing the standardized management of health monitoring stations on campus and making sure that nucleic acid testing, cleaning and disinfection of public bathrooms, laundry rooms, stair handrails, door handles, elevator keys and public articles are conducted in a timely manner.
He urged schools to strengthen the management of epidemic prevention work, including vaccination for returned students, implementing the standardized management of health monitoring stations on campus and making sure that nucleic acid testing, cleaning and disinfection of public bathrooms, laundry rooms, stair handrails, door handles, elevator keys and public articles are conducted in a timely manner.
Covid lockdown
Meanwhile, China’s Xinjiang province is hit with limited options due to a gruelling and week-long COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
Chris Buckley, writing in The New York Times (NYT) said that Yining, a city in the Xinjiang region of far-western China chafing under a month-long pandemic shut down due to a lack of food, medicine and other crucial supplies.
The Yining residents called for help over limited food, difficulty getting medicines and drastic shortages of sanitary pads for women.
Since early August, residents of the 600,000-person metropolis have been ordered to remain indoors, leaving many to rely heavily on neighbourhood leaders to bring food.
Some of the locals complained that the repetitive diet of rice, naan, and instant noodles had replaced food delivery. Azad, a local, claimed that for the past two weeks, there had only been instant noodles, which he could no longer handle more than twice per day.
After over 500 cases were confirmed last week, Chengdu, the capital of the southern Sichuan province, which has a population of 21 million, is now under lockdown.
Since the start of the pandemic, mainland China has recorded more than 6 million instances of COVID-19 infection and 24,806 fatalities as a result.
A dramatic increase in the COVID-19 virus has been recorded in some areas of China, and the fifth wave’s emergence has forced the populace to once more deal with the totalitarian government’s continuous limitations. Xi Jinping’s so-called “zero-COVID policy,” which has disrupted daily life and delivered a severe blow to the faltering economy, has failed, as seen by the country’s ongoing breakout of widespread infection in spite of China’s robust efforts.
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