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Local governments of the earthquake-hit provinces of Gansu and Qinghai vowed to take immediate measures to ensure victims are under warm roofs amid sub-freezing temperatures, and to provide them with sufficient life necessities. Specialized and timely medical treatment is also being arranged for those who were injured during the disaster.

Gansu's emergency management bureau said on Thursday that the province's earthquake relief work has achieved a phased victory and that the search for the missing was basically over. Now the local government is focusing on saving the injured, the resettlement of victims and cleaning debris from across earthquake-stricken areas.

The death toll caused by the devastating earthquake that rattled Northwest China on Monday night had reached 137 as of Thursday - 115 in Gansu and 22 in Qinghai.

Officials in Qinghai vowed to make resettlement of earthquake victims a priority and to offer special treatment to the elderly, children, women and other special groups.

Meanwhile, local hospitals have received a total of 784 injured people, and health authorities are currently providing psychological counseling for those impacted by the disaster.

Bai Yuping, an official from Gansu's health authority, said at the Thursday conference that those who suffered minor injuries were sent to hospitals close by, and those in severe condition were sent to provincial and key hospitals. Bai said timely and customized treatment has been provided to each injured victim.

She said mobile medical teams had been dispatched to villages hit hardest by the earthquake. Those teams can receive 500 people on daily basis.

Under the guidance of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of China, Gansu provincial housing and urban-rural authorities established an earthquake relief command headquarters, and initiated a Level II emergency earthquake response. The ministry has dispatched personnel to the affected areas to provide guidance for disaster relief, according to the local officials.

More than 500 specialists and technicians have been dispatched to the area to survey the damage to residential areas and facilities, conduct emergency assessments of building structures, and carry out urgent repairs.

As of Thursday, the water and gas supply in Jishishan county, the epicenter of the earthquake, had resumed.

Some schools in earthquake-hit areas have already resumed in-person classes or are conducting online teaching. In Qinghai's Minhe county, two out of 176 schools are carrying out online teaching.

People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers have built up a "tent school" in one of the makeshift shelters near Jishishan, media reported. In this "temporary school," young students are being taught about national defense and safety during disasters.

However, the Global Times reporters learned from a rescue team that the biggest challenge remaining is the sub-freezing temperatures in the earthquake-hit zones. The weather authority in the Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, which governs Jishishan, said that temperatures will remain at -10 C to 14 C from Wednesday to January 2, 2024.

Some rescue workers have established shifts to ensure they can maintain their stamina and avoid damaging their health amid freezing temperatures.

Government employees, soldiers from the PLA and volunteers are racing against time and the cold to erect tents for earthquake victims. In Dahe village, Jishishan county, a PLA soldier told the Global Times that they make sure every tents has stoves to keep victims warm.

Currently, life necessities such as food, tents and clothes as well as large rescue equipment are still urgently needed. Relief goods donated from all over the country have been pouring into the disaster area. As of Wednesday night, the central government departments have allocated a total of 135,500 disaster relief supplies to Gansu and Qinghai. A total of 126,600 items have been delivered so far.

However, the Global Times learned that some villages are still in need of relief supplies. More than 20 people in Shanzhuang village in Jishishan have only one tents, a villager surnamed Ma said. When a 4.1-magnitude aftershock jolted neighboring areas in Jishishan on Thursday morning, the villagers had to spent the night in the open air, and every family only had one package of instant noodles, and is in urgent need of cotton padded coat to keep themselves warm, said Ma.

As of Wednesday morning, the Gansu provincial government said on Wednesday that the province had recorded a total of 423 aftershocks.

Iranian puppeteer Fahimeh Barotchi (R) gives instructions as Chen Daigong, puppeteer and inheritor of a local Chinese puppet performing art, learns to play at a puppet art preservation center in Jinjiang of Quanzhou City, southeast China's Fujian Province, Dec. 11, 2023. Puppet artists from 12 countries are invited to Quanzhou, a city widely believed to be the starting point of the ancient Maritime Silk Road, to give puppet performances and communicate with local puppet artists.(Photo: Xinhua)

The opening ceremony of the 31st World University Games will be held on July 28 at the Dong'an Lake Sports Park Stadium in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province. While the stadium itself will not be hosting any matches or events other than the opening ceremony, the Dong'an Lake Sports Park is still one of the main sites for the Games, with artistic gymnastics and swimming events to be held there.

The Dong'an Lake Sports Park Multi-Purpose Gymnasium will host the artistic gymnastics events during the Games. With a floor area of 90,169.37 square meters, the gymnasium has one field of play and one warm-up area. The artistic gymnastics events will take place from August 1 to 5, with 14 gold medals to be awarded.

With a capacity of 18,000, the venue is one of the largest and highest-level indoor multi-purpose gymnasiums in China, according to Huang Hai'an, executive deputy manager of the Venue Operation Center (VOC) for Dong'an Lake Sports Park Multi-Purpose Gymnasium. "It will be used for artistic gymnastics competitions during the Chengdu Games, but actually it can do much more than that," Huang told the Global Times.

It has been reported that the venue is able to host 16 kinds of sports events, but "that is conservative," said Huang. "Basically, most of the sports you can imagine could be played here, be it badminton, volleyball, table tennis, and even winter sports like ice hockey and curling," Huang noted.

The gymnasium can be turned into a basketball court from an ice hockey venue in about six hours, while the reverse process would take around five days as making ice takes more time than melting it, Huang told the Global Times.

The Chengdu Games will be the first large-scale international comprehensive sports event to be held in western China, but the organizers are fully confident about the post-Games usage of the gymnasium, and planning for future events has already begun.

"About 20 concerts will be held here in the following months after the Chengdu Games, with the first one scheduled for late August," the gymnasium's Logistical Support Deputy Manager Luo Xingxing told the Global Times. "There will be concerts or business activities here every month" to bring in income, Luo said.

They will try to bring other national and international sports games to the gymnasium, and commercial competitions like boxing and NBA China games will also be an option for consideration, said Luo.

A few hundred meters away from the gymnasium sits the Dong'an Lake Sports Park Aquatics Center, which will host the swimming competitions of the Chengdu Games. Covering a floor area of 73,549.33 square meters, it has one competition pool with 10 lanes and one warm-up pool with 10 lanes.

The aquatics center will serve as a competition, warm-up and training venue for the swimming events, which are scheduled from August 1 to 7, with 42 gold medals up for grabs.

It is the only Class A aquatics center in Sichuan, according to Bai Xue, its VOC executive deputy manager. It's equipped with the world's most advanced timing and scoring system, which is accurate to one ten-thousandth of a second, said Bai.

Similar to the nearby gymnasium, the aquatics center will also be put to good use after the Games. Before the Chengdu Games, it has been open to the public for a very low price since May 2022, Bai told the Global Times. "Citizens can enjoy a world-class swimming pool for only 40 yuan [$5.6], which is cheaper than those in many gyms and hotels," Bai noted.

Besides being available for the public after the Games, the center will also invite professional swimming coaches to offer lessons.

Chinese speed skaters made some breakthroughs at the speed skating World Cup in Beijing over the weekend, as they totaled two silver and four bronze medals in the three-day competition.

Ning Zhongyan has become the marquee name for the Chinese speed skating team this year as he bagged one silver and two bronze medals in all three races he participated in. Female skater Han Mei is also a big contributor as she claimed one silver and one bronze medals. 

The National Speed Skating Oval, replaced its ice for the first time after hosting the Winter Olympics last year, has been dubbed the "fastest ice" as it witnessed the breaking of 10 Olympic records last year. 

"I was a bit nervous when competing at the Olympics here last year, but now I am just enjoying the race," Ning told reporters. "I think I didn't fail to live up to the fans' expectations, but I do hope I can change the color of my medal at the next World Cup event."

In the women's race, Han's result in the 1,500 meters of 1:55.92 was just 0.4 seconds short of Japanese veteran Miho Takagi, who bagged three individual medals at the Beijing 2022 Olympics. Han's teammate Li Qishi finished third.

"Different from competing at the Olympics, now we have fans cheering for us, which is a booster for me," Han told reporters, noting she has set herself the goal of stepping onto the podium at the Milan 2026 Olympics.

The last time a Chinese female skater entered the top three in the 1,500 meters event was during the 1999-2000 season, when Song Li achieved third place in the Netherlands. 

Li Yan, head coach of the national speed skating team, said though the team is preparing for its ultimate goal of the Milan 2026 Winter Olympics, participating in the World Cup events has made the goal "clearer."

"Every four years we are preparing for one thing (the Winter Olympics), but this year our goals are clearer, which is to improve our results and rankings," she told reporters. 

"Every athlete, regardless of their current level, is finding their shortcomings and areas to improve. More importantly, we are consolidating the spirit of the entire team, using the team's strength to achieve breakthroughs and support each other."

Compared to speed skating's brother, the discipline short track, which has become a popular event thanks to China's medal haul in the discipline, the oval races are relatively less influential, as it totaled only two gold medals in China's seven entries into Winter Olympics. 

While in recent years China has seen success in shorter distance speed skating, particularly with Zhang Hong and Gao Tingyu winning gold in the 500 meters events at the Sochi 2014 and Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, respectively, the country has struggled in mid-to-long-distance events, which makes breakthroughs like those of Ning and Han more significant.

Despite not participating in the previous season and lacking World Cup ranking points, Gao, who recently returned, finished just a place short for a podium finish in Beijing. But coach Li expressed satisfaction with his recovery. 

"Gao's smooth return is the first step. The fans have high expectations for him, but after all, he hasn't participated in formal competitions for over 20 months," Li told reporters. 

"Being able to move to the top group is a stable first step, and he just needs to do his best."

The Chinese national football team scored a disappointing 1-1 draw to Malaysia during a home match on Saturday, as fans continued to express their dissatisfaction at the lackluster performance well into Sunday. 

Malaysia stunned the hosts with a goal in the 11th minute, an anxious start to the first half of the match for the more than 26,000 home fans at the Phoenix Hill Sports Park Stadium in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province. It was not until Lin Liangming scored an equalizer in the 36th minute that the fans were able to breathe a momentary sigh of relief. 

China, currently ranked 80th on the FIFA world rankings, made 16 shots compared with nine tries from Malaysia, who are world No.136, with the home team having ball possession for an overwhelming 67 percent of the match. 

When the stadium MC announced the draw, the fans inside the stadium angrily booed and yelled, while demanding their money back and chanting "refund!"

A video making the rounds on social media showed a fan so overcome with wrath during the game that he had to be escorted out by other fans and medical staff due after suffering from respiratory issues. 

"We didn't deserve to win tonight," China's head coach Aleksandar Jankovic told reporters after the match. "The fans supported us throughout the game, and I felt sorry that we disappointed them."

What further incensed Chinese football fans was the news that China's neighbor Japan bested former World Cup champions Germany with an impressive 4-1 victory during an away friendly match on Sunday.

"Once we were on the same level with Japan but now, I think we are like 30 years behind Japan," a fan usernamed Xinli wrote on Weibo. "Though on the under-15 level we've made some breakthroughs, the gap remains huge."

The Chinese under-15 national team defeated its Japanese counterpart in the Under-15 East Asian Championship final in Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province earlier on Friday. 

In more good news for Chinese football, over the weekend the national under-23 team defeated India thanks to a 96th-minute goal from Naibijiang Mohemati, avoiding a second draw for yet another national team in one night. 

The senior national team will take on Syria on Tuesday, which Jankovic sees as an opportunity to prove the team's capabilities. 

"The good thing is that three days from now we have a game to prove ourselves. We need to correct the problems [we have] and win for our fans," he said.

Zou Jingyuan, the Tokyo Olympic champion five-time world champion, defended his titles in the men's team and men's parallel bars events at the Hangzhou Asian Games. The 25-year-old Chinese gymnastics ace talked about his physical condition and mindset, as well as his goals for next year's Olympics in Paris in an exclusive interview with the Global Times. He said he has felt less pressure for Paris after claiming the gold medals.

Zou competed in two individual events at the Asian Games, the men's parallel bars and rings, and he was also a member of the Chinese men's team. He said he was "quite satisfied" with his performance throughout the event.

"For me, the main thing is that in the team event I displayed my level of training," Zou, nicknamed "king of the parallel bars," told the Global Times.

Zou competed in the men's team competition in two individual apparatuses, the double bar and the rings. In both of the apparatuses, the Chinese team came in first place overall. Zou also praised the performance of his teammates, especially Zhang Boheng, who competed in all the events, saying he played an important and crucial role.

China narrowly defeated Japan in the men's team competition to clinch the title, just three points ahead. Zou said he was impressed by the Japanese team's performance. "The city brings us a lot of luck," he said after the match. 

Snatching gold with an incomparable lead, Zou shrugged off the overwhelming compliment, saying that his performance was not perfect. 

"I did not choose to increase the difficulty. The difficulty of this set is still a bit low compared to next year's Paris Olympics," he said. "These games are the cornerstone of the Paris Olympics."

In the other individual event he participated in, Zou only ranked sixth in the rings, seemingly affected by his injury. However, answering the Global Times, Zou dismissed the influence from injury.

"My injury is within a controllable range," he said. "In fact, it is the same for the opponents. They also face a lot of injuries and are also challenging themselves."

As the defending Olympic champion, Zou said he faces Paris with less tension and pressure than he did two years ago.

"Of course, the freshness during the competition is different," he told the Global Times. "But during training, I think there will be less pressure than before. I won't be fighting myself as much as before."

Speaking about his expectations for Paris, he said he expects to do well in Paris in what he didn't do well in Tokyo.

Immediately after the Asian Games, the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championship began in Antwerp, Belgium. Since the Chinese men's team has already qualified for Paris, the male athletes involved in the Asian Games will no longer be involved in the World Championships, as more opportunities will be offered to other teammates.

For his teammates who will soon start the World Championships, Zou said he hopes they will not have too much pressure.

"Of course I would want them to take the title, but more than that, I hope they can display themselves without pressure," he said. "In terms of results, it also depends on their opponents' performance."

As for Zou and his teammates who are participating in the Asian Games, they will get a rare vacation after that. "But it makes no difference to me whether I take a vacation or not," Zou said. "I will still train every day. As the days go by, it is closer to the Olympics."

The head coach of China's speed skating team said that she has been trying to instill a champion mentality among the young athletes, as the team held an open training session at the Capital Skating Oval in Beijing on Monday.

The team has been gearing up for the 2023-2024 ISU Speed Skating World Cup, an international tournament consisting of six events. The season begins on Friday in Obihiro, Japan and will end on February 4 in Quebec City, Canada. The skater with the most points in a given distance at the end of the series is the World Cup winner in that distance.

Chinese skaters will leave for Japan on Tuesday for the first leg of the world cup series and they are excited to make their mark in the second leg which will take place at Beijing's National Speed Skating Oval, or "Ice Ribbon," from November 17-19.

Li Yan, the head coach, told the Global Times that she expects more young players will make breakthroughs in the new season.

"We've been working hard to improve the overall strength of the team in the past year. We want to develop the champion mindset within our team in practice and competition," said Li.

The team is led by Gao Tingyu, who broke the Olympic record to win the men's 500m in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. It was also China's first gold medal in men's speed skating in the Winter Olympic Games. 

In addition to the short distance, China has made up ground in the medium- and long-distance races. In the 2023-24 season, four Chinese skaters have qualified for each of the women's 500m, 1000m, 1500m, 3000m and 5000m events. In the men's 500m, 1000m and 1500m, four skaters have also secured their spots respectively. 

Meanwhile, two skaters will compete in the men's 5,000m and 10,000m, the events for which China failed to qualify in the Beijing Winter Olympic Games. 

"We have realized our primary goals of having more male skaters participating in international long-distance events and improving women's long-distance results. Our objective is to forge ahead and change the status quo and we will take it one step at a time," Li noted. "We are also enhancing the athletes' capability of competing in multiple events, which is a trend of speed skating development."

Foreign coaches Jan Bos from the Netherlands and Alexander Rumyantsev from Russia also joined the team to help the skaters.

Li Qishi, who took her first world cup victory in 2014, told the Global Times after training that the participation of more young skaters has given fresh impetus to the team. 

"I think this is good for the development of speed skating in China. With more young skaters to compete in international events, there will be opportunities to create better results," said Li, adding that she has improved her starting recently. 

Young skater Liu Bin told the Global Times that Gao has set a good example of self-discipline and he will try to find his feet in the coming event. 

The world cup in Beijing is the first major international tournament held at the "Ice Ribbon" since the Beijing Winter Olympic Games. 

As one of the legacies of Beijing 2022, the "Ice Ribbon" has opened to the public after the Games.  

"I look forward to our skaters achieving better results on the home ice and we're excited to revisit the fast and furious atmosphere created by the cutting-edge venue," Li said. 

Taking advantage of the legacy of Beijing 2022, more international winter sports events have come to China and provided young skaters with opportunities to progress. 

The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final will take place in Beijing from December 7 to 10. Currently, the Chinese figure skating team is gearing up for the fourth leg of the figure skating series, which will be held in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality from November 10 to 12. 

Meanwhile, the third leg of the 2023-24 ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup will take place in Beijing from December 8 to 10. China's short track speed skaters wrapped up the first two legs with four golds, one silver and one bronze. 

Olympic champion Su Yiming will take part in the second leg of the 2023/2024 FIS Freestyle Skiing and Snowboard Big Air World Cup, which will be held at Shougang Big Air in Beijing from November 30 to December 2.

The 2024 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships will take place in Shanghai from January 30 to February 4, 2024.

On Friday, the Philadelphia Orchestra will perform a 50th anniversary concert with the China National Symphony Orchestra at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. They will also visit Shanghai and Suzhou.

The concert, hosted by China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism and organized by the China International Culture Group Corporation, will be jointly conducted by chief conductor of the China National Symphony Orchestra, Li Xincao, and assistant conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Tristan Rais-Sherman.

There are plans to give master classes, host panel discussions, and hold a chamber music performance in Shanghai.

The orchestra is a vivid witness to the friendship between the two peoples of China and the US, and continues to carry on the legacy of people-to-people exchanges though music.
Exactly half a century after his first trip to China, 74-year-old American musician Davyd Booth still clearly remembers how he felt about the country at first glance, and is amazed at how dramatically the country has changed while the people remained hospitable and kind.

This mid-November, the Philadelphia Orchestra will travel to China for a series of activities commemorating the 50th anniversary of the ensemble's historic 1973 tour of China, the first by a US orchestra.

As a member of the orchestra, violinist Davyd Booth participated in the 1973 tour, and this time he will return to China, yet again, and visit Beijing, Shanghai and Suzhou, to continue the friendship between the people of the two countries through music.

In Beijing, master pieces including L'eloingement, Divertimento and Violoncello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104 are set to be performed during the concert.

"I would never forget my trip to China, which was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I returned to China 20 years later, and found it completely changed," Booth recalled his experience with the Global Times.

Like most Americans, as a child, young Booth read about China in books and saw pictures of rice paddies, boats and great architecture. However, Booth didn't have the chance to visit China until he joined the Philadelphia Orchestra when he was 23.

When the orchestra made history that year by becoming the first US orchestra to perform in China, one of its members had a last-minute change of plans. The sudden illness of the violinist gave Booth the opportunity to replace him and witness a historic moment.
Trip in 1973

For two members of the then Central Philharmonic (now China National Symphony Orchestra), 90-year-old Zhu Xinren and 88-year-old Yang Shi, training and having exchanges with US musicians was an unforgettable experience.

Ormandy and other US musicians watched a performance by their Chinese counterparts on September 15, 1973. They showed great interest in string ensemble Two Springs Reflect the Moon, which had just been adapted by Wu Zuqiang, leader of the composition group of the Central Philharmonic. The Chinese charm of the melody immediately attracted them.

"They asked to get the score sheets in the hopes of performing it in the US. It was just finished a year before by Wu and the debut had made it ­possible for it to head to the US stage," violinist Zhu recalled.

Chinese conductor Li Delun led the Chinese orchestra in a performance of one movement from Beethoven's Fifth. Then he handed his baton to Ormandy and asked him to conduct the next movement. Ormandy led the orchestra, and everyone applauded.

"Music connects the world. He also praised us young performers for our strong receptivity. This can be said to have been a worldwide cooperation," said Zhu.

For Booth, the performance in 1973 was a success built on the ­foundation of the two orchestras' previous efforts.

"Music was a powerful tool for communication and connection, not only with other musicians, but also with the audiences," Booth told the Global Times.

"It was a great achievement. Both China and the US want to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the tour, which was a historic event. Music had a profound impact on people's lives, and the orchestras' performance in 1973 was a life-changing event for many people."

This tour will be the orchestra's 13th visit to China, and Booth has been in every trip. He is looking forward to not only the musical collaboration with Chinese orchestras, but also seeing the transformation and development of China.

"I've never seen a country change so dramatically and so quickly. I remembered there was one trip where we stayed in a hotel and watched a building being constructed at an astonishing speed. It was like something out of a movie."
Mutual respect

Booth poured out his memories of his 1973 visit to China in a video conversation with the Global Times, in which he noted how amazed he was by the contrast of lifestyles in China and the US in the last century.

"At that time Beijing was a small city surrounded by fields, where farmers used wooden carts and water buffaloes. Everyone wore the same clothes, hats, and haircuts, making it hard to tell men and women apart. There were no tall buildings, few cars, and countless bicycles," recalled the musician.

He was impressed by the friendliness of the Chinese people, who were eager to interact with the US visitors.

"The orchestra was told not to talk to the Chinese people, and vice versa, but nobody followed that rule. We communicated through gestures and smiles, and felt mutual interest and respect. I was glad that I had the chance to see China in 1973, when it was still a mystery to most Americans."

Booth and the other musicians also never thought that the music played during their first Chinese trip would be heard not just by thousands of audiences in Beijing, but millions of people across the country through radio broadcasts on village loudspeakers.

Among them was a 16-year-old boy working in the rice fields in Central China's Hunan Province, Tan Dun, now known to the world for his Academy Award and Grammy Award winning music scores in Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

One day in 1973, Tan heard beautiful but strange music filtering across the fields from a loudspeaker, a broadcast of the Philadelphia Orchestra playing in Beijing. The teenager paused in his work as they played Beethoven's Fifth.

"The symphony was like a silver light, emitting the sound of the future," recalled Tan, noting that it was the first time he had heard about a "symphony orchestra." Twenty years later, he received an invitation from the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Following in Tan's footsteps, a 10-year-old pianist named Lang Lang decided he would one day study in Philadelphia when he heard the orchestra perform in China in 1993 - the first time the orchestra had returned since the 1973 trip.
Lasting friendship

Founded in 1900, the Philadelphia Orchestra has long had a close ­relationship with China. Dating back to the 1940s, the orchestra performed to raise money for China's Eighth Route Army led by the Communist Party of China during World War II to fight against Japanese invaders.

"Music has the power to connect and build bridges. We are delighted to commemorate the orchestra's historic 1973 tour and our 50-year relationship with the people of China during this residency," Matías Tarnopolsky, president and CEO of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center, Inc, told the Global Times.

"The 1973 tour is remembered to this day by many in China as a symbol of deep musical friendship, and we hope that our ­music-making will continue to build bridges between our peoples and cultures."

"The friendship between the two countries bridges all sorts of gaps as music brings everyone together. Now we have many Chinese members in the Philadelphia Orchestra. China is really a part of us," said Booth.

The original London West End musical The Last Five Years is being staged at the Beijing Tianqiao Art Center from Wednesday to Friday. This is the first round of performances for the show in the "performing arts capital" Beijing.

The musical is adapted from the personal experiences of composer Jason Robert Brown, who has won the "Tony Award" three times. 

After its premiere, The Last Five Years debuted off-Broadway in 2002 and in London's West End in 2006. Countless audiences have cried because of this work, and even fell in love with musicals because of it.

The show interweaves more than 10 songs to tell the story of the five years of the protagonists' love, marriage, indifference and divorce, showing their joys and sorrows.

Unlike many large-scale musicals with complex stage designs, The Last Five Years is very streamlined, consisting of only two actors and a band of five musicians.

The two actors have to perform non-stop on a rotating stage for nearly 100 minutes, not only perfectly presenting their own singing and playing, but also accompanying each other on the piano while singing and acting, which is a true test of their performance skills.

Authorities in India's southern state of Kerala have heightened surveillance measures to contain the spread of Nipah infections, officials said on Saturday.

The measures have been stepped up in Kozhikode district, where so far six cases have been identified. Of them, four are active while the remaining two died.

The state-run broadcaster All India Radio (AIR) said that so far 1,080 people have been included in the contact list of Nipah-infected patients in Kozhikode, of which 297 people are in the high-risk category.

"Those in the contact list are kept in isolation and their body fluids have been sent for testing," the broadcaster quoted officials as having said.

According to AIR, health workers covered more than 15,000 houses in Kozhikode so far, as part of their field survey.

Reports said after a resident in Cheruvannur tested positive for Nipah on Friday, local administration declared the five-kilometer area around the residence as a containment zone.
A strict perimeter control has been imposed in several localities falling under Kozhikode Municipal Corporation. The officials have put up barricades to limit access to these areas.

The district administration in Kozhikode has directed all educational institutions to hold classes online for the students till Sept. 24.

Meanwhile, the Director-General of India's top health research body - Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Rajiv Bahl, on Friday said they have reached out to Australia to procure 20 more doses of monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of Nipah virus infection.

"We got some doses of monoclonal antibody from Australia in 2018. Currently, the doses are available for only 10 patients," Bahl said, adding globally monoclonal antibody has been given to 14 patients infected with Nipah virus outside India and all of them have survived.

According to Bahl, no one so far has been administered the medicine in India.

"Twenty more doses are being procured. But the medicine needs to be given during the early stage of the infection," he said. "It can only be given as compassionate use medicine."

Bahl said teams from ICMR's National Institute of Virology (ICMR-NIV) and National Institute of Epidemiology (ICMR-NIE) have been deployed on the ground and are working with authorities in Kerala to strengthen containment efforts.

He also advised that people take certain precautionary measures against Nipah, including handwashing, avoiding contact with body fluids of infected or suspected cases, avoiding areas where bats are known to roost and contact with bats and avoiding consumption of raw foods that may be contaminated by bats, such as raw date palm sap or raw fruits.

Kerala had first witnessed an outbreak of the Nipah virus in 2018 in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts, claiming 17 lives.

According to WHO, Nipah virus infection is a newly emerging zoonosis that causes severe disease in both animals and humans. The natural hosts of the virus are fruit bats of the Pteropodidae Family, Pteropus genus.

Typically, the human infection presents as an encephalitic syndrome marked by fever, headache, drowsiness, disorientation, mental confusion, and coma, which can potentially lead to death.