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Among the buildings damaged, 47 houses had collapsed, the government of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region posted on its official Weibo social media account Tuesday.

"I firmly oppose any act to smear China," he said in a statement, following the brand's remarks over forced labor in the #Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The area is strategically important for both, Ladakh being part of Kashmir and close to the only road linking China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and Tibet.

“Given the climate of terror the government has created in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, given its intensive efforts to conceal proof of forced labor from foreign eyes, and given the pervasive surveillance apparatus that makes a confidential conversation oxymoronic, no worker is going to tell a factory auditor that her employer and the government are breaking the law by forcing her to work against her will,” Nova said.

The government on Wednesday also downgraded the threat posed by the virus in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region as new cases decline, according to state-run Xinhua news agency.