Zhangjiajie in 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.
