Xinjiang making best effort to contain virus' spread, health chief says

To help the city carry out high-quality nucleic acid testing, the State Council Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism sent 21 testing teams from 12 provinces and coordinated professionals from four third-party institutions to conduct testing in Xinjiang. It has helped to lift Urumqi's testing capability to 800,000 people per day to ensure the infections can be detected as early as possible, he added.

By the end of Wednesday, Xinjiang had 107 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 38 asymptomatic cases, with 2,506 people still under medical observation. No newly confirmed COVID-19 cases have been reported in Xinjiang since Aug 16.

What's more, the region wasted no time investigating the origins of the virus, swiftly cutting off possible channels of transmission and screening close contacts and putting them under medical observation, Mutalif said.

To ensure sufficient daily food supplies for all people while they are staying at home as a part of the effort to contain the virus, the region has ramped up the production of vegetables, fruit, meat, eggs, dairy products, grains and other essentials. Measures have been taken to crack down on misbehavior like price gouging, hoarding, profiteering and making and selling substandard goods to ensure that markets are adequately supplied and prices stay stable, he said.

"During Eid al-Adha, or the 'festival of sacrifice', we increased lamb and beef supplies across the region to fully satisfy the demand of people of all ethnic groups, making sure all consumers can access inexpensive, quality meat," Mutalif said.

He added that besides releasing epidemic information in a timely manner, the region has also opened a 24-hour hotline to provide timely responses to public and media concerns.

Schools in Xinjiang have delayed the autumn semester and will hold classes online, according to the local education authority.

The delay applies to all kindergartens, elementary schools, junior and senior high schools in the region, with online classes due to start Sept 1.

The regional education department will provide teaching resources for online classes, while schools are required to make plans for online teaching and organize classes.