Beihai continues virus fight

Coastal city in Guangxi opens makeshift site to control outbreak

The coastal city of Beihai in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region is getting a grip with an outbreak of COVID-19 that was first detected on July 12 and has seen cases rise to 202 confirmed and 516 asymptomatic carriers as of Monday.

Guangxi reported 134 new locally-transmitted confirmed cases on Monday, all in Beihai, and 109 asymptomatic carriers, including 104 in Beihai, the region's health commission said.

The outbreak in the city has seen its Haicheng and Yinhai districts locked down and a makeshift hospital opened in Beihai's main stadium. Two rounds of mass testing in the city were held on Monday and Tuesday.

"To further accelerate the city's nucleic acid testing quality and efficiency, a pressurized testing lab with a daily capacity of about 800,000 samples is under construction and is expected to be completed by Tuesday," Li Zejin, vice-mayor of Beihai, said at a news conference.

"There are three designated hospitals for COVID-19 treatment, with a total of 1,025 beds available, and equipped with relevant medical facilities and equipment," said Zhang Weichun, deputy director of the city's health commission.

Beihai's main stadium has been transformed into a makeshift hospital and received its first asymptomatic carriers on Tuesday.

"Work to transform the stadium into a makeshift hospital started on Saturday evening," Wang Bolei, executive director of the hospital, told Beihai Daily. "There are 600 beds available in the hospital, and more than 260 medical workers from medical institutions across the region have begun to provide medical treatment for asymptomatic carriers and patients with mild symptoms."

As of 3 pm on Tuesday, the hospital had received 25 asymptomatic carriers.

In Gansu, the provincial capital Lanzhou reported 29 new local confirmed cases and 140 asymptomatic carriers on Monday, raising the total infections to 812 since July 8, according to the city's health commission on Tuesday.

The city launched its ninth round of mass testing on Tuesday afternoon.

Beijing on Monday reported one locally-transmitted asymptomatic carrier and four imported confirmed cases, said the city's health commission on Tuesday.

According to local health authorities, one of the imported cases, who is a pilot of China National Aviation Holding Corp, failed to comply with regulations during the health monitoring period in Beijing.

On Sunday, he visited a restaurant, a movie theater and went shopping as well as took public transportation. The local asymptomatic carrier was the pilot's wife.