91 COVID-19 cases reported in Inner Mongolia

The Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Tuesday reported 91 new locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 and two asymptomatic carriers , according to the region's health commission on Dec 1.

All the cases were reported in Hulunbuir city.

Of the cases, 72 were confirmed in Manzhouli, a border city that is under the jurisdiction of Hulunbuir, and the other 19 were detected in the city's Zalainuur district, the commission said.

The two asymptomatic carriers were reported in the city's Xin Barga Left Banner.

Genome sequencing and epidemiological investigation results show the recent outbreak in Hulunbuir was not related to previous local outbreaks, but was triggered by imported source, Cui Gang, an official from the National Health Commission's disease prevention and control bureau, said at a Tuesday news conference.

"The first three cases reported in the latest outbreak had possible exposure to imported goods," Wang Tao, vice-mayor of Manzhouli and director of the city's public security bureau, said at a news conference on Tuesday. "After a large amount of visits, investigations and research, it is preliminarily analyzed that the virus was carried by imported goods in Manzhouli and spread via 'person-to-person or goods-to-person transmission'."

Starting from Wednesday, Manzhouli railway port has suspended all imports of non-container goods including wood, coal, mineral powder, fertilizer, pulp, agricultural and sideline products and other goods that need manual handling, according to a statement released by local government on Tuesday.

As of Tuesday, the region has reported 132 locally transmitted confirmed cases and two asymptomatic carriers since three residents were tested positive for the virus on Saturday.