North China city adds 5 risk areas as 91 new COVID-19 cases emerge

HOHHOT, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- The border city of Manzhouli and a county-level district administered by the city in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region reported 91 new local COVID-19 cases on Tuesday and added five areas to the city's medium-risk area list.

Starting from 8 p.m. Tuesday, five areas in the county-level Zhalainuoer district administered by Manzhouli, where 19 new local infections were logged on Tuesday, have been classified as medium-risk areas for COVID-19 infections, local authorities said Wednesday.

The other 72 new confirmed cases were reported in the urban districts of Manzhouli.

To date, the city has three high-risk areas and six medium-risk areas.

The city's latest outbreak was preliminarily believed to be caused by coronavirus on imported goods, said Wang Tao, vice mayor and head of the public security department of Manzhouli, during a press briefing on Tuesday.

Starting from Wednesday, the railway authorities in the border city have temporarily suspended the imports of goods, including timber, coal, fertilizers and farm produce that are not carried in containers and need human labor to unload, in order to curb the spread of the virus.