Henan reports 118 new COVID cases

Henan province logged 118 new locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, the provincial Health Commission reported on Wednesday. Of those, 12 cases were found in Zhengzhou, 65 in Anyang and 41 in Xuchang.

Huaxian county of Anyang imposed strict epidemic prevention and control measures, according to a statement released by its epidemic prevention and control headquarters on Wednesday.

All residents of the county must stay home, except for those providing necessary supplies or dealing with prevention and control, emergency response or rescue, the statement said.

No vehicles are allowed on the roads except for those engaged in the transport of goods or engaged in epidemic prevention and control, medical aid or emergency rescue.

The county has also stopped all business activity except for those involved in supplying daily necessities.

All public transportation services, including buses, taxis and online car hailing, have been suspended.

Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan said differentiated and targeted measures for pandemic control were implemented during her investigation and guidance in Henan, which was hit by a COVID-19 outbreak at the end of December.

Sun, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, visited supermarkets, factories, schools, quarantine sites, hospitals and communities in the cities of Zhengzhou, Yuzhou and Anyang, to learn about lockdown management, medical services and the flow of necessary supplies.

She also urged government departments to strengthen testing, epidemiological investigations and prevention and control measures to achieve the goal of having no new cases reported outside the quarantine areas as soon as possible.