No letup of epidemic in Chongqing

The COVID-19 epidemic in Chongqing remains complex and grave, with infections still on the rise. It has seen infections surpassing 6,000 for three consecutive days, according to figures released by the municipal Health Commission.

On Monday, the city reported 178 new confirmed local cases and 6,157 new asymptomatic carriers. On Tuesday, it reported 215 new confirmed local cases and 6,728 new asymptomatic carriers, the commission said on Wednesday.

The number of new cases in 11 districts in the central urban city was 5,566 on Monday, accounting for 88.4 percent of the total. Of those, infections via community transmission totaled 628, or 11.22 percent of the cases — a slight increase over that of Sunday, said Li Pan, deputy director of the commission at a news conference on Tuesday night.

New infections in four districts surpassed 800, while in three districts was below 100, which means that the rising epidemic in central Chongqing has been curbed to some extent. It now has some features typical of a scattered outbreak.

Li said the coordination policy implemented in the central city should be further strengthened, and prevention and control measures in some regions should be adjusted.

A total of 43,386 asymptomatic carriers were under medical observation in hospitals and 2,110 confirmed cases were being treated in hospitals.

Of the confirmed cases, 1,950 patients have mild symptoms, 116 are moderate, 30 are severe and 14 are critically ill. All are in stable condition, Li said.

Li said that as of Monday, Chongqing had integrated seven municipal centralized hospitals, 27 designated hospitals in districts and counties, five municipal makeshift hospitals and 26 makeshift hospitals in districts and counties, providing over 41,000 beds.

Recently, the city's rural supply and marketing cooperatives have filled about 50,000 to 200,000 orders daily online and offline, as well as 1,000 tons of agricultural and other products, to provide daily necessities for residents.