CHENGDU ordered the use of stricter anti-pandemic measures after four more confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported Tuesday, making a total of six confirmed cases plus one asymptomatic case discovered this week in the Sichuan provincial capital.

The measures include mass testing, locking down some locations and restricting entertainment venues, officials said.

The four new people with confirmed cases had been in close contact with two people found to have confirmed cases Monday. The two are an older couple, a 69-year-old woman surnamed Lu who was in serious condition and her 71-year-old husband, who live in Group No. 11 in Taiping, a village in suburban Pidu District.

All five newly diagnosed patients were transported to the Public Health Clinical Center of Chengdu for quarantine and treatment, Chengdu’s health commission said Tuesday.

The source of the virus is under investigation, commission officials said.

Peng Qinghua, Party secretary of the province and head of the leading group coping with the COVID-19 pandemic in Sichuan, chaired a meeting Tuesday at which officials were instructed to respond as if they were at war with the disease as a result of the recent infection.

As of Tuesday, 255,200 nucleic acid test samples have been collected and 60,500 of those had been processed.

On Monday afternoon, Taiping was listed as a medium-risk area, meaning residents were not allowed to leave without showing proof of their negative test results. (China Daily)