Street in Harbin labeled high-risk area for COVID-19

Yutian Street in Harbin's Hulan district, Heilongjiang province, has had its risk level for COVID-19 adjusted from medium to high starting from noon on Monday, according to a statement from the city's epidemic prevention and control headquarters.

As of Monday, there have been two high-risk areas in the province, and the other one is Wangkui county, where the first asymptomatic carrier associated with the recent outbreak was reported on Jan 10.

Meanwhile, another five regions in the city have been categorized as medium-risk areas, the statement said.

Heilongjiang reported 53 new locally transmitted confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 24 asymptomatic carriers on Monday, the provincial health commission said on Tuesday.

Among the cases, 20 confirmed and 17 asymptomatic cases were reported in Harbin.

The city has conducted mass nucleic acid testing in its downtown areas since Thursday evening, officials said at a news conference on Monday night.

"As of 3 pm on Monday, nearly 4 million samples had been collected and nearly 2.5 million have received results," said Luan Feng, deputy director of the Harbin Health Commission. "We have also started the second round of testing in Hulan district."

Neighboring Jilin province on Monday reported seven local confirmed cases, driving the caseload to 280, according to the provincial health commission.

Fifteen asymptomatic carriers were reported on Monday, bringing the total to 67.

The province also reported one death in Tonghua city on Monday, the first from the recent outbreak in the province.