China's Hebei clears all COVID-19 risk areas

North China's Hebei Province, which has seen a resurgence of COVID-19 recently, now has no medium- or high-risk areas for the virus, after the provincial capital Shijiazhuang downgraded its last medium-risk district on Sunday.

City officials of Shijiazhuang said at a press conference that the city's Gaocheng District was downgraded to a low-risk area after local communities found no new confirmed cases during screening over the past two weeks, with all results coming back negative in district-wide nucleic acid testing.

Meanwhile, the city of Xinle under the administration of Shijiazhuang has lifted its closed management, meaning residents can move freely into and out of the city, with life and work gradually returning to normal, said Jiang Wenhong, vice mayor of Shijiazhuang.

Xinle was downgraded to a low-risk area in early February, but the closed management continued due to safety concerns.