NE China’s Heilongjiang reverses severe virus spread through tough controls

Northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province health regulators on Saturday announced that no new confirmed or suspected cases of the COVID-19 infection had been reported in the province by Friday.

The news came after the provincial capital Harbin on Wednesday night rolled out stringent traffic controls, seen as the toughest in the region, in its four downtown districts, and shut down exits and entrances connecting the city with neighboring counties and townships, as well as banned flows of all vehicles and personnel.

Heilongjiang provincial health commission circulated on Sunday that by end of Saturday, there were 480 confirmed cases, with 12 deaths and 72 critically sickened.

The large inflow of travelers, including those coming from epidemic-stricken areas, to Harbin, one of the most popular winter tourism hotspots in China, had led to the infection outbreak.

Media reported that between December 1, 2019 and January 31, the city received some 70,000 visitors from Central China’s Hubei Province, and the number of registered accommodations for these travelers amounted to 43,899, of which 10,450 were from the epicenter Wuhan.

Among confirmed infection cases in Heilongjiang, six had been working in Wuhan, and nine were from Hubei.

Data shows that 79.3 percent of patients with confirmed infection cases in Harbin resulted from a cluster transmission.

The region’s cold climate also created difficulties for regular ventilation, making it more likely for the virus to be transmitted between family members and visitors.

On Sunday afternoon, Yang Baofeng, former president of the Harbin Medical University, expressed his gratitude to Zhong Nanshan, the central government’s top medical advisor, by phone, for the latter’s assistance in donating 50 hydrogen generators with nebulizers to the province.

The devices are effective in preventing patients’ conditions from becoming more severe,

Zhong said.

Patients with chronic obstructive diseases, which are common in the northern part of the country, especially the extremely cold northernmost part of the nation, could suffer from more serious symptoms and take longer to recover, he noted.

Zhong said he was not surprised by the situation of the epidemic situation Heilongjiang , and spoke highly of the honesty shown in the province’s relevant report.