COVID-19 situation in China stable, controllable: official

A medical worker takes a swab sample from a citizen for nucleic acid test at a COVID-19 testing site in north China's Tianjin, Jan. 15, 2022. North China's Tianjin Municipality launched the third round of citywide nucleic acid testing at 7 a.m. Saturday. (Xinhua/Sun Fanyue)

BEIJING, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- The recent COVID-19 resurgence in China has been in general stabilized, as the country managed to bring the outbreaks in some areas under control in a timely manner, the National Health Commission said Saturday.

China is now facing challenges mainly from imported cases and a domestic travel rush in the upcoming holiday season, said He Qinghua, an official with the commission, at a press conference.

The Chinese mainland on Friday reported 104 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases: 52 in Henan, 39 in Tianjin, eight in Guangdong, four in Shaanxi, and one in Zhejiang, official data shows.

Most of the COVID-19 cases in Tianjin in the past three days were found among people under quarantine, indicating that the possibility of virus spread in the city is declining, said He.

The official highlighted continuous efforts to manage quarantine spots, adding that the State Council inter-agency task force for COVID-19 response had sent a working group to guide anti-epidemic work in Tianjin.

He added that the outbreak in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province, has basically subsided, while Henan is still facing risks of community infections.