(Yicai Global) Aug. 4 -- A county in the central Chinese province of Henan, which is experiencing a resurgence of Covid-19, is turning the health codes of residents in areas deemed to be high-risk to red to restrict movement and slow the spread of the disease.

Minquan county in Shangqiu city, which has a permanent population of 700,700 people, has been in so-called ‘static management,’ a form of lockdown, since July 25 when two asymptomatic cases of Covid-19 were detected.

This number jumped to 169 on Aug. 2 and, on top of the lockdown measures which require all non-essential workers to work from home and all non-essential businesses to close, the county is taking the additional precaution of turning the health codes of those living in seven high-risk areas and those in 12 middle-risk areas red and yellow respectively, the local government said yesterday.

Changing the color of people’s health codes is to prevent the new wave from spreading, the local government said. Those with yellow codes cannot enter densely populated public spaces such as shopping malls, nor use public transportation. Those with red codes must quarantine for 14 days. Green codes indicate a healthy status.

Even those who come for short visits are not exempt. Anyone who has visited the county since July 20 and stayed for longer than four hours will have their health codes changed to yellow, the local government said on July 31.

One person who had traveled out of the county to the provincial capital of Zhengzhou found his or her health code had turned red, the person said on social media on Aug. 3.

People can apply to have their green codes reinstated through their neighborhood committees, the local government said. Also, yellow health codes will not appear as yellow in other cities and provinces, it added.

Editor: Kim Taylor