SHANGHAI – The capital and largest city in Hebei Province in northern China, has banned people from leaving on Thursday in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus, as the country has seen the largest increase in daily infections in more than reported five months.
Hebei accounted for 51 of the 52 local cases reported by the National Health Commission on Thursday. This is compared to 20 cases reported the day before in the province around Beijing.
Authorities in Shijiazhuang, home to 11 million people, have launched mass test stations and banned rallies to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.
In addition to people not being allowed to leave the city, people and vehicles from parts of the city may be considered at high risk, not leaving their district, authorities said.
Hebei entered a time of war on Tuesday, meaning investigative teams at provincial, city and district levels will be formed to track down the close contacts of those who tested positive.
Chinese state television reported earlier that Shijiazhuang had banned passengers from entering its main railway. The city had earlier required travelers to present a negative nucleic acid COVID-19 test result taken within 72 hours before boarding a train or plane in the province.
The total new COVID-19 cases for the whole of mainland China stood at 63, compared to 32 reported a day earlier, which was the largest increase in daily cases since 127 cases were reported on 30 July.
The number of asymptomatic carriers infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the disease but has no symptoms yet has also risen to 79 from 64 a day earlier.
The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases on mainland China since the first outbreak in the city of Wuhan at the end of 2019 now stands at 87,278, while the death toll has remained unchanged at 4,634.
In the city of Dalian in the province of Liaoning in northeastern China, which has been reporting local infections in recent days, residents in medium- or high-risk areas have been banned from leaving the city. Residents in other areas have been told to refrain from making unnecessary trips to Dalian.
Authorities in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong reported on Wednesday that a patient infected with a more transmissible variant of the coronavirus had been discovered in South Africa.
Some scientists are concerned that COVID-19 vaccines currently being expanded may not be able to protect against this variant due to certain mutations that have been observed.