Suzhou races to control latest Omicron outbreak

Suzhou Industrial Park, where HeJian is located, is an important integrated circuit industry base in the Yangtze River Delta.

The official from the park's COVID-19 prevention and control headquarters added that supermarkets and food markets had been urged by the city government to ensure basic supplies for residents, and that various daily necessities had been provided to people living in parts of Suzhou that had been locked down.

Suzhou Industrial Park had provided 68,000 meals and more than 2,600 blankets for people living in areas under lockdown by noon on Wednesday. It also provided them with sweet glutinous rice balls, a traditional snack eaten during Lantern Festival, on Tuesday evening.

Suzhou has imposed strict travel restrictions to curb the spread of the virus. Starting Wednesday, anybody leaving the city by train had to provide a negative result for a nucleic acid test taken within the previous 48 hours.

After closing 15 highway entrances on Tuesday, the city shut down more highway entrances and ferries on Wednesday to contain the virus. It also suspended the operation of intercity buses.

Wuxi, a neighboring city, reported three asymptomatic cases by Wednesday, all preliminarily linked to the outbreak in Suzhou. Another neighboring city, Nantong, reported one confirmed case on Tuesday.

Zhou Furong and Hang Xuefei contributed to this story.