Beijing Travel has been limited to a northern China city of 11 million people, and schools have been closed as authorities moved on Wednesday to COVID-19 cases after more than 100 infections were confirmed.
Ten major highways leading to Shijiazhuang city, about 200 miles south of Beijing, have been closed and a bus station has been closed in an effort to prevent the virus from spreading outside the city in Hebei Province.
The Chinese state newspaper Global Times said all train ticket sales from neighboring Hebei province to the capital had been halted and Shijiazhuang’s long-distance bus station was shut down when officials declared Hebei in “war mode” against the virus.
There have been 117 cases in the city, including at least 63 more Wednesday. In total, 78 of the cases were asymptomatic, prompting mass testing in the affected area.
CHINA DAILY / REUTERS
Unlike much of the world, China has largely brought the virus under control through strict lockdowns and travel restrictions. But there has been a string of local outbreaks in recent weeks, prompting massive testing and targeted lockdowns.
The village of Xiaoguozhuang within the city limits is classified as a “high risk” district and closed.
Health authorities said all 40,000 residents in that district have been tested for the virus.
CHINA DAILY / REUTERS
State television showed villagers being tested by personnel in full hazmat suits and protective gear, with roadblocks manned by police and medical personnel.
All schools in Shijiazhuang are closed.
State broadcaster CCTV showed teams of health workers spraying disinfectant through streets and said an emergency team of medical workers had been sent to the city.
More than 400,000 residents of another nearby city, Nangong, have also been tested, authorities said.
The Global Times quoted Feng Zijian, deputy head of China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, as telling state television on Tuesday that the COVID-19 strain that caused the cases in Hebei was “most likely imported from Europe,” said the time.
Feng reportedly said tests were underway to confirm which variant of the disease showed up in Hebei and where it came from. A new, highly contagious strain of the coronavirus appeared in South East England in late 2020, and it is now responsible for a huge increase in infections in the UK, British officials have said that the variant is between 50% and 70% easier to transfer from one person to another.
South Africa has also identified a new strain of the disease, which is also believed to be more contagious than the species circulating widely around the world for a year, which some resistance to current vaccine formulations is being rolled out.
Beijing is rushing to vaccinate millions ahead of the country’s Lunar New Year next month.