China province closes kindergartens, training institutions over COVID-19

Several regions in northeast China's Jilin Province have suspended in-person classes at kindergartens, after-school training institutions and youth activity centers due to COVID-19 outbreaks in parts of the country.

Authorities in the cities of Changchun, Baicheng and Baishan, and the prefecture of Yanbian encouraged online training and banned any forms of in-person classes attended by local teachers and students.

Primary and middle school students in Jilin started their winter vacation early this month.

The Chinese mainland on Wednesday reported 138 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases, of whom 124 were locally transmitted and the rest arrived from outside the mainland, the National Health Commission said Thursday.

Of the locally transmitted cases, 81 were reported in north China's Hebei Province and 43 in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, the commission said in its daily report.

Jilin Province reported two domestically transmitted asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, according to the Jilin provincial health commission.