A performance held at Charming Xiangxi theater located in Wulingyuan Scenic Area in Zhangjiajie, Central China's Hunan Province on March 26, 2017 Photo: VCG

Zhangjiajie in Central China's Hunan Province has become another key point of resurgence of the COVID-19 epidemic spreading across China following spillover cases from Nanjing in East China's Jiangsu Province to the city. 

Beijing reported two new confirmed infections on Thursday noon, who were found to have traveled to Zhangjiajie. 

Besides Beijing, several cities across the nation including Chengdu in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, Dalian in Northeast China's Liaoning Province, Changde in Hunan, Huaian in East China's Jiangsu Province, and Yubei district in Chongqing Municipality have all reported confirmed infections who have never been to Nanjing but have been to Zhangjiajie or had close contact with people who had been to Zhangjiajie and tested positive for COVID-19. 

As of Thursday, the number of Zhangjiajie-related infections across China has amounted to at least 18. 

A careful combing over the cases found that a performance with an attendance of over 2,000 people held at Charming Xiangxi, a theater located in Wulingyuan Scenic Area in Zhangjiajie between 6 pm and 7 pm on July 22, was the source of the second round of transmission. 

According to media reports, over 2,000 people watched the performance that night with no space in between the audience members while sitting next to each other. Although the audience were required to wear masks when they entered the theater, staffers could not ensure all audience members wore their masks during the entire performance. 

According to the disease control and prevention center of Wulingyuan district in Zhangjiajie, over 2,900 performers and staffers from the theater and Wulingyuan scenic spot took nucleic acid tests on Monday and all results came back negative. The local authority will organize a second round of nucleic acid testing soon. 

An official from the local disease control and prevention center told the media that they have obtained the list of all the audience members present at the performance on July 22 and will contact them one by one to conduct epidemiological investigations. 

Previously, a possible chain of transmission through flights and travelers from Nanjing to Zhangjiajie was found by the local health authorities and disease control and prevention centers in Dalian, Zhangjiajie and Chengdu. 

Three travelers from Dalian flew to Nanjing Lukou International Airport and stayed for two hours before they transferred to another flight and flew to Zhangjiajie. They visited several tourist spots in Zhangjiajie which three tourists from Chengdu also visited. All six tourists tested positive for COVID-19 after they returned to Dalian and Chengdu. 

Global Times