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One person infects 50 in Harbin
Published on: 2020-04-20
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harbin 01Contact tracing of a Chinese national with COVID-19 who returned from the US to Harbin, capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, shows at least 50 people have contracted the virus after contact with the patient.
 

Public health experts played down the risks to the wider public, saying a citywide lockdown is unnecessary and Harbin will not become another Wuhan, as long as people do not drop their guard too soon and remain vigilant to the risks of catching the disease.

A municipal worker wearing a medical face mask cleans the snow in front of a model of St. Basils Cathedral in MoscowA municipal worker wearing a medical face mask cleans the snow in front of a model of St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow

The man, surnamed Han, flew from the US on March 19. Contact tracing revealed that 50 cases of COVID-19 were related to him, either directly or indirectly, including secondary infections at two hospitals.
 

Harbin reported 36 active confirmed cases and 18 asymptomatic infections as of Saturday midnight, while the numbers were one and three on April 9 when Han's infection was confirmed.
 

Some netizens and local residents are calling for a citywide lockdown, but public health experts said it is not necessary as there are no new cases beyond the infection chain, and all close contacts have been traced.
 

Han first infected a neighbor who came into contact with a contaminated environment. The virus then spread to the neighbor's family members and friends after a dinner gathering.

harbin 02An 87-year-old patient surnamed Chen is another key link on the infection chain. Chen is a friend of the neighbor's family, who was admitted to Harbin Second Hospital on April 2 after suffering a stroke. He was transferred to the First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, and this resulted in infections of at least 26 inpatients, family members and medical staff at the two hospitals.

 

The infection chain also extended to a driver surnamed Gong, who was confirmed to be anasymptomatic carrier on April 17 after his parents came down with the virus at one of the two hospitals. The driver then came into frequent contact with the employees of two companies for whom he drove over a period of about 10 days. All employees of the two enterprises will undergo COVID-19 tests.
 

The infection chain further extended to a student and a teacher who were related to cases at Harbin Second Hospital.
 

A patient from Fushun, a city in neighboring Liaoning Province, was also confirmed on April 16 and found to be related to the cluster of infections in one of the two hospitals.
 

Such a long infection chain shows that some people in the city may have loosened their vigilance too early and there are loopholes in hospital management, analysts said.
 

On Friday, the Heilongjiang Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection announced 18 Party and government officials and hospital chiefs were held accountable for failing to conduct anti-epidemic work in Harbin, including deputy mayor Chen Yuanfei and director of Harbin Health Commission Ding Fengshu.
 

A "city lockdown is unnecessary for now," said Zeng Guang, chief epidemiologist of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in response to questions over whether Harbin should impose a strict lockdown.
 

To prevent imported infections, Harbin customs requires drivers and inbound passengers to undergo nucleic acid tests regardless of their nationality. People who return to China, or have to travel between China and a foreign country, for example truck drivers, will undergo testing or COVID-19 tests every five days, Harbin customs said.
 

哈尔滨1传50

哈尔滨新冠肺炎病毒传播链条不断拉长。截止4月17日,该病毒传染链已导致哈尔滨市共50人感染,包括32例确诊病例和18例无症状感染者。根据哈尔滨官方通报数据统计,1传50的传播链条背后,院内感染人数38人,占比超七成。

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