Over 8,500 people dispatched to help fight COVID-19 epidemic in China's Hainan

HAIKOU -- More than 8,500 people from 18 provinces across China have been organized to help the island province of Hainan in fighting the latest COVID-19 outbreak, the provincial COVID-19 prevention and control headquarters said Monday.

As of Monday noon, the province has registered 1,042 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 465 asymptomatic infections since confirmed cases were reported in the coastal resort city of Sanya on Aug 1.

As of 7 a.m. on Monday, Hainan has designated 250 areas as high-risk for COVID-19 and 145 as medium-risk.

The provincial COVID-19 prevention and control headquarters said that the personnel from outside Hainan will participate in epidemiological survey and supervision, nucleic acid sampling, medical treatment, as well as nucleic acid testing.

A team dispatched by the State Council joint prevention and control mechanism against COVID-19 has arrived in Hainan to work together with municipal and provincial authorities to curb the resurgence.

Meanwhile, equipment capable of detecting 1.15 million tubes of nucleic acid samples per day has already been transported to Hainan.