Customers are seen at a shopping mall in Qiaoxi District of Shijiazhuang, north China's Hebei Province, Feb. 5, 2021. Many commercial complexes and shopping malls in Shijiazhuang resumed operation in an orderly manner. Photo:Xinhua

Epidemic-stricken Gaocheng district in Shijiazhuang of North China's Hebei Province ended closed-off management on Monday, after mass COVID-19 nucleic acid tests all returned negative results on Sunday.

Cross-regional population flow and normal production in the city have been allowed to resume in an orderly manner.

The district was designated as a high-risk area for COVID-19 from January 6 after a cluster infection was detected, and quickly implemented closed-off management. 

The next day, Shijiazhuang banned outbound traffic and no people or vehicles in the city were allowed to leave. All people and vehicles in the city's Gaocheng district were also banned from leaving Gaocheng.

Infections found in Gaocheng district made up most of the cases reported in the early period of the recent flare-up in Shijiazhuang, which started in January, and raised concerns over epidemic control in rural areas. 

As of January 11, the infections in Shijiazhuang were found in 12 counties, with 76.39 percent of the cases occurring in Gaocheng district, and 95.62 percent of cases in Gaocheng district occurring in its Zengcun village, local authorities said. 

Shijiazhuang started to resume social activities and production on January 29 as the epidemic had been contained. From February 8, the risk level at Gaocheng was downgraded to medium as COVID-19 cases decreased, but people flow was still controlled to prevent cross infections at several villages, including Zengcun, Lianzhou and Xiguan where cluster infections were detected, and strict management continued in the villages due to risk levels. 

On January 22 when China cleared all medium and high-risk areas nationwide, all areas in Gaocheng district were adjusted to low-risk, with some places still designated as key control areas and key groups being asked to stay home for isolation.