China's Jilin city warns of huge risk of further COVID-19 spread

The vice mayor of China's Jilin city, the second-largest city in Jilin province in the country's northeast, warned on Wednesday that there is a huge risk the coronavirus could spread further after reporting six new confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Five of the new infections in the city, located nearly 100 km (63 miles) east of the provincial capital of Changchun, could be traced directly to one confirmed case in the city of Shulan, where an infection cluster was previously reported.

Vice Mayor Gai Dongping told reporters during a briefing that Jilin authorities will step up measures to curb and contain the virus. The city has already said it will temporarily suspend departing or transiting passenger rail services at a key train station.