HONG KONG – China fights largest coronavirus outbreak in months, imposes lockdowns in hard-hit areas, quarantines more than 20 million people and calls on citizens to refrain from unnecessary travel as the Lunar New Year holiday approaches in February.
The tightening, which takes place during the coldest winter in a generation in Northern China, underscores official skittish nearly a year after authorities shut down Wuhan city to stem the first outbreak.
On Tuesday, China’s National Health Commission reported 42 new cases of locally transmitted symptomatic infection, one day after registering 85 such cases – the highest daily number in six months.
Most of the recent cases have been discovered in the northern province of Hebei, which surrounds the Chinese capital Beijing.
Local authorities in the city of Langfang on Tuesday quarantined their five million residents at home for seven days as they conducted city-wide tests. Authorities imposed similar measures on the provincial capital of Shijiazhuang last week, preventing people and vehicles from leaving the city and halting public transport in the city.