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BEIJING: A Chinese border city affected by a new COVID-19 outbreak began a five-day campaign on Friday (April 2) to vaccinate its entire population of 300,000.
State broadcaster CCTV showed people lining up and getting vaccinated in Ruili, where 16 cases have been confirmed since Tuesday. Twelve of them are Chinese and the other four are citizens of Myanmar, which is across the border.
A Communist Party official in the city told CCTV the day before that 159,000 doses of vaccine had arrived in the city.
Television footage showed empty streets as officials ordered people to self-quarantine their homes and shut down non-essential businesses. The city has also said it will tighten controls around the porous border to try to stop anyone crossing illegally from Myanmar.
READ: Chinese city on Myanmar border orders home quarantine for new COVID-19 cases
China has largely eradicated local transmission of COVID-19 and quickly implements strict measures whenever a new group emerges.
This is the first time that China has tried to vaccinate an entire city in response to a new outbreak. The move comes as the government intensifies a nationwide vaccination campaign.
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