The expert team of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) and the high-level expert team of the National Health Commission have arrived in Shijiazhuang and Xingtai, both cities of North China’s Hebei Province.

File Photo: Xinhua

Shijiazhuang will also launch nucleic acid testing for all residents, according to a press conference held by local health authorities on Tuesday night.

Primary and secondary schools and kindergartens in Shijiazhuang all suspended offline education and teaching, the city’s education authorities said in an urgent announcement on Tuesday.

Hebei revealed 19 confirmed coronavirus cases and 40 asymptomatic ones since Saturday. The province activated its emergency response mechanism and entered a wartime state on Tuesday.

Hebei health authorities on Tuesday also raised the COVID-19 emergency level to “high risk” for Xiaoguozhuang Village in Shijiazhuang, making the village currently the only high-risk area in China.

(Compiled by Zhang Jian)