Another 31 locally transmitted cases of the novel coronavirus were reported in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, on Monday, raising the number of cases in the city to 106.

And besides the cluster of infections among cleaners working in the city's airport, another 98 infections related to the cases in Nanjing have been reported in nine other cities in five provinces as of Tuesday morning, when the virus was confirmed as the extremely infectious Delta variant.

That means, although Nanjing has conducted its second citywide nucleic acid test, and entered a de facto lockdown, this wave of the virus has already spilled out of the city. It is no exaggeration to say that the country is at a critical juncture as what it is doing now will determine whether the epidemic will be halted before spreading nationwide.

Thus, it is necessary for all the relevant local governments to take advantage of big data and other technical means to track not only those that have been to Nanjing this month, but also all of their close contacts as soon as possible. And these people should also take the initiative to report to local epidemic prevention and control departments.

This would not have been necessary if Nanjing had caught the cluster early enough to prevent the transmission chain being formed.

The large numbers of grassroots clinics are supposed to be sentry posts in the nation's defense against the virus, as those infected often go to them to seek help first.

For instance, one of the first cases in this wave of infections visited Lukou community healthcare center twice on July 18 and 19 after he showed COVID-19 syndromes.

But he still went to work in Nanjing Lukou Airport on July 20 as usual. That means the community healthcare center he visited failed to fulfill its role as guard post in the national epidemic prevention and control network as it had not verified the cause of the person's symptoms in the first place.

Otherwise, the person and his close contacts would have been put under quarantine immediately, and the information would have been reported at the same time to the epidemic prevention and control authorities to coordinate the whole city's actions.

All grassroots clinics should heed the lessons of Nanjing and play their due roles in the not-yet-ended war against the virus. Any slip of a single community healthcare center might undo all the achievements the country has made. It is not yet the moment that the country can drop its guard against the virus.

BEIJING NEWS