New asymptomatic virus case reported in NE China's Heilongjiang

The city of Heihe in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province reported a new local asymptomatic COVID-19 carrier on Wednesday, according to a statement from local government.

The 17-year-old female patient was found positive on Tuesday as testing was conducted on close contacts and then was diagnosed as asymptomatic, the statement said.

She is in the same grade with the asymptomatic carrier reported on Tuesday, an 18-year-old senior at a senior high school.

Heihe, a port city on the China-Russia border, has conducted city-wide coronavirus tests covering 165,700 residents and it is expected to finish all sample collection work on Thursday, local media reported.

The city's health commission has set up 17 sample collection points and dispatched 720 medical workers to join the testing campaign.

Heihe has adopted a series of measures to contain the infection, including preventing vehicular traffic across the city.

According to a statement from the city's traffic police department, from Wednesday to Friday, no vehicles are allowed to drive on roads except for those vehicles engaged in transporting goods, epidemic prevention and control, medical aid and emergency rescue.

Passenger train services between Heihe and Harbin in Heilongjiang province, as well as Heihe and Dalian in Northeast China's Liaoning province, were suspended.

Starting Wednesday, passengers that leave from Heihe Aihui Airport must provide negative nucleic acid test results within 24 hours of leaving, the airport announced on Tuesday.

The city reported a local confirmed case and an asymptomatic carrier on Tuesday afternoon. The confirmed case is the 73-year-old grandmother of an 18-year-old asymptomatic carrier.