A few days ago, the city of Harbin was placed under quarantine. It has indeed experienced a new wave of contamination, caused by Chinese citizens coming from Russia and returning to the country. According to a local specialist, there is talk of new characteristics of Covid-19 arousing certain fears despite a return to normal activities.
Harbin is a city of over 10 million people, located in the far northeast of China. Capital of Heilongjiang province, Harbin has just been quarantined by the authorities. According to the Xinhua news agency, 8 new imported cases have been detected in Harbin. In total, the province has 384 imported cases out of 921 since the start of the epidemic. However, these imported cases are for the vast majority Chinese citizens returning from Russia . More than 2,000 people are thus under close surveillance and more than 200 are under observation in the hospital.
Therefore, the city is locked down for a period of one month and no one coming from outside can enter it. Moreover, the 50,000 inhabitants of the small border town of Suifenhe near Vladivostock (Russia) suffer the same fate. The latter is known to be an entry point from the Russian neighbor. Local authorities have even promised financial rewards to anyone who reports illegal arrivals of people from abroad.
The Harbin quarantine may seem drastic, but the risk is enormous. Indeed, northeastern China is made up of the provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang, where no less than 120 million people live.
For Chinese virologist Yang Zhanqiu of the Center for Epidemic Control and Prevention, this new wave of contamination is worrying. According to the person concerned, there is talk of new characteristics of the virus making it more difficult to detect. Is this a new strain? Unfortunately, details are lacking on this. However, the Russian listed balance sheet worries China, with 62,773 cases for 555 deaths.
Let's remember that the country has resumed most of its activities . In the big cities, public transport is running almost at full speed and restaurants are open again. More than ever, China is exposed to a second wave of Covid-19. At the end of March, we were already talking about a silent spread due to asymptomatic people. Finally, a study is underway in the country, intended to measure the extent of this asymptomatic contamination.
