Nanjing’s COVID outbreak came from Russia. That’s the fact confirmed today by local authorities as nucleic-acid testing for the entire populace nears its conclusion and the swell in the numbers of new cases also continues to shrink. Time for another mini sigh of relief.
There were a further 13 positive cases of COVID recorded in Nanjing yesterday, taking the total since 20 July to 184. With 18 new cases recorded yesterday and 47 the day before, so the drop in numbers of new cases continues; fingers crossed it stays that way.
Fully 157 of the cases have been found in Jiangning District. And we all know why. The outbreak originated at Nanjing Lukou International Airport amongst cleaning crews.
At today’s pre-noon press conference, authorities confirmed that which has been rumoured for some days. Responsible is Air China flight CA910 on 9 July from Moscow to Nanjing.
As reported by The Paper, staff performing the cabin cleaning of the aircraft upon its arrival in Nanjing may have become infected after “non-standard protection elution”. Meaning things weren’t disinfected properly.
The flight had brought one imported case of COVID into Nanjing.
With the cleaning contractor also performing the same duties for other airlines, operating both domestic and international flights, more airport staff became infected due to contact with cleaners or the polluted environment.
This morning’s press conference also revealed the extent in the drop in numbers of people prepared to take public transport during these testing times.
Public transport’s passenger numbers in Nanjing decreased yesterday from their 2.32 million weekday average to approximately 720,000, a drop of about 65 percent.
For the record, and away from Jiangning, of the remaining 27 positive cases in Nanjing at present, 11 are to be found in Lishui, four each are in Jianye and Gulou, three in Yuhuatai, two each in Qinhuai and Gaochun, and one each in Xuanwu and Qixia. One case was an asymptomatic infection which became confirmed.
