Hospital receives recovered patients

A new makeshift rehabilitation hospital with 310 beds has been put into operation in Tonghua, Jilin province, and has received its first batch of recovered coronavirus patients, local media reported.

Seven patients were transferred to the hospital on Saturday evening for 14 days of medical observation and further rehabilitation treatment after being discharged from hospitals.

"With an area of 5,300 square meters, construction of the hospital started early on Tuesday morning at a local indoor stadium," Che Mingliang, deputy director of the city's health commission, said at a news conference on Friday. "Over 130 workers spent just two days finishing the fundamental construction work, including partition walls, power and water supplies."

Some basic cultural facilities, Wi-Fi coverage and all kinds of living facilities have been prepared, he said, adding that there is a separate living area for medical workers to prevent cross-infection.

As of Saturday, Tonghua had reported 307 confirmed cases and 16 asymptomatic carriers in the recent outbreak.

Jilin recorded 63 new locally-transmitted confirmed cases of COVID-19 and one asymptomatic carrier on Saturday, the provincial health commission said on Sunday. Among the 63 confirmed cases, 57 were previously asymptomatic carriers.

As of Saturday, there were 349 confirmed cases, including 37 in serious condition, 21 asymptomatic carriers and a suspected case in the province.

Neighboring Heilongjiang province detected nine new confirmed cases on Saturday, the first day in single digits after more than 20 days of double-digit rises.

The province also recorded four asymptomatic carriers on Saturday, the provincial health commission said on Sunday.

All 13 cases were found in Wangkui county, Suihua, and the provincial capital, Harbin, the two major affected areas in the province's recent outbreak.

As of Saturday, there were 500 confirmed cases and 539 asymptomatic carriers in the province.

"With strict prevention and control measures including community lockdown, mass testing and disinfection, Suihua has effectively contained the regional outbreak of COVID-19 case clusters in the regions outside Wangkui," Dong Wenqin, deputy mayor of Suihua said at a news conference on Sunday. "Over the past six days, these regions reported no positive cases."

In Harbin, a newly built laboratory in a convention and exhibition center has passed testing and will be put into operation soon, Guangming Daily reported on Saturday.

Twelve white, tent-like inflatable facilities for collecting samples, nucleic acid extraction and sample detection will raise the lab's daily nucleic acid testing capacity to more than 12,000 tubes.

As of Saturday, there were 11 high-risk areas across the country－six in Heilongjiang, one in Jilin, three in Hebei and one in Beijing.

Shijiazhuang, Hebei's provincial capital, detected one new confirmed case on Saturday.

Han Junhong in Changchun contributed to this story.