East China city reports 171 COVID-19 cases in latest resurgence

HANGZHOU -- An eastern Chinese city has registered 171 locally-transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases and one asymptomatic carrier, as of 8 pm Tuesday, in the latest COVID-19 resurgence since Dec 7, local authorities said.

The epidemic in the city of Shaoxing in Zhejiang province was caused by people who became infected with COVID-19 while attending a funeral early this month. They include a vegetable vendor at a food market who caused cross infections among buyers and market management staff, said Zhu Runye, deputy secretary-general of the Shaoxing municipal government, at a press briefing on Tuesday night.

Local authorities have traced 9,419 close contacts and 10,254 secondary close contacts of the COVID-19 cases and have already placed them under quarantine amid rapid responses to contain the epidemic, Zhu said.