Residents in Xiamen told to stay home as holiday season starts

BEIJING • A city in south-east China hit by Covid-19 has told residents to stay home and closed various venues, as infections spread in the country's latest hot spot during a key holiday travel season.

The government of Xiamen, in a series of notices, told residents yesterday not to leave home unnecessarily; closed parks, scenic spots and sports venues; and halted mass activities including tours, fairs and performances.

The measures - short of a full lockdown - came on the first of the four-day Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, a peak travel season across China.

Xiamen, a scenic city of five million people, is one of four cities in the province of Fujian - China's latest coronavirus hot spot - that have reported cases in recent days. Visitors to Xiamen's residential compounds are not allowed without approval, non-essential vehicle traffic in and out of residential areas is forbidden, and dining at restaurants, cafes and other venues is prohibited.

Also a transport hub for south-east China, Xiamen has reported 92 locally transmitted infections in the past week. That is about half the number of nearby Putian, where the first infection in this outbreak was reported on Sept 10.

The first patient in the Xiamen cluster was a close contact of a case in Putian, the Xiamen authorities said last Monday. Since Sept 10, Fujian province has reported 292 community infections.

The outbreak comes ahead of the week-long National Day holiday starting on Oct 1, a far busier tourist season than the Mid-Autumn Festival.

China yesterday reported 46 new confirmed coronavirus cases in the mainland for Friday, according to the National Health Commission.

Of the new infections, 31 were locally transmitted, all of which were in the south-eastern province of Fujian, the health authority said.

No new deaths were reported.

As at Friday, mainland China had recorded 95,623 confirmed cases, with the cumulative death toll unchanged at 4,636.

REUTERS