Hebei records over 30 new COVID-19 cases

Hebei province reported 33 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 39 asymptomatic carriers on Friday, down from a single-day's increase of 51 confirmed patients and 69 asymptomatic cases on Thursday, according to the Health Commission of Hebei.

After the new rise, Hebei has a total of 123 recently confirmed COVID-19 patients and 181 asymptomatic carriers, the commission said. Among all confirmed cases, five have severe symptoms, while the rest are displaying medium conditions.

Among the newly confirmed cases, 31 are in Shijiazhuang, Hebei's capital city, one of whom was previously diagnosed as asymptomatic carrier. And another two confirmed cases are in Xingtai city.

Most of the new confirmed cases in Shijiazhuang are in Gaocheng district. Compared with Thursday's new cases, new cases were found in two new places -- five in Xinle, a county-level city neighboring Gaocheng, and one in Jingxing county.

One of the cases in Xinle is a student from a college in Nantong, Jiangsu province. She came back to Shijiazhuang on Dec 30 and was tested positive for nucleic acid testing on Jan 6.

Among the cases in Xinle, one is a teacher at a middle school in Xiaoguozhuang village, Gaocheng, where the first case in the outbreak in Shijiazhuang lived. The 44-year-old teacher tested positive on Tuesday, according to epidemiological information.

The province has reported new cases for six consecutive days since this new outbreak of COVID-19 started over the weekend.

Five communities and villages were designated as medium-risk areas on Friday morning in Nangong city, Xingtai, Hebei province, which reported two new COVID-19 cases, increasing its total to nine after the outbreak occurred over the weekend in Hebei.

As of Friday, Hebei has one high-risk area, which is Gaocheng district in Shijiazhuang, the only such in the country, as well as eight medium-risk areas, all in Nangong, Xingtai.