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China puts people first in the battle against COVID-19
Updated: Aug 18, 2021
Xinhua
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Amid a new cluster of COVID-19 cases in the Chinese city of Zhangjiajie, the willingness of local authorities, medical workers, and volunteers to readily assist is highlighting China's approach to tackling the virus.
Local authorities in Zhangjiajie, a popular tourist spot in central China's Hunan Province, are providing free accommodation and food for stranded tourists under quarantine at hotels.
Medical teams have been assembled to conduct nucleic acid tests at hotels, with volunteers on hand to ferry samples from visitors' rooms to mobile testing sites.
Volunteers are helping out by collecting and delivering nucleic acid test samples, late into the night.
The local government sent a psychological medical team to Zhangjiajie to provide mental health counseling to residents, tourists and medical staff.
The Chinese mainland reported six new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases on Monday, the National Health Commission said in its daily report on Tuesday.
The recent COVID-19 resurgence first emerged in Nanjing, the provincial capital of Jiangsu, where several airport cleaners were found to be infected on July 20 during a routine test.
Chinese authorities have quickly clamped down on local flare-ups with measures like mass nucleic acid testing, targeted lockdowns, and travel restrictions, which has led to a distinct downward trend in new infections.
China has also implemented nationwide travel restrictions. All 31 provincial-level regions on the Chinese mainland have urged citizens not to travel to medium- and high-risk areas or leave the provinces where they live unless absolutely necessary.
But such strict measures have had only a limited impact on the lives of most Chinese people.
"China has always been seeking a balance and trying its best to control the epidemic locally to mitigate the impact on society and the economy, leaving extreme measures like city lockdowns as the last resort," said Yu Xin'an, vice president of the China Association of Regional Economy.
