About 1,617 kilometers from Beijing, and with a population of only 30,000 permanent residents, Ejine Banner in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region's Alshaa League has the largest area and the smallest population of all the banners.

A tourist hot spot known for its spectacular displays of autumn leaves, Ejine has been grappling with a COVID-19 outbreak since Oct 18. Many tourists were trapped and underwent up to five rounds of nucleic acid tests, while communities were locked down as part of epidemic prevention and control protocols.

So far, a 96-member State emergency medical team and four nucleic test institutions have arrived to join the local government's fight against the outbreak. By Oct 30, more than 9,000 stranded tourists had been relocated to low-risk areas.