BEIJING • China has sealed off two cities south of Beijing, cutting transport links and banning millions of residents from leaving, as the authorities move to stem the country's largest Covid-19 outbreak in six months.
The outbreak in China has so far been broadly brought to heel by the authorities since its emergence in Wuhan in late 2019, with small outbreaks swiftly snuffed out using mass testing, local lockdowns and travel restrictions.
But in the past week, Hebei province in northern China has reported 127 new Covid-19 cases, plus an additional 183 asymptomatic infections.
The vast majority were found in Shijiazhuang, a city of several million in Hebei whose surrounding areas take the total population to 11 million.
Nine confirmed cases were reported in the neighbouring city of Xingtai, whose area covers seven million people.
Residents of both cities are banned from leaving their homes unless absolutely necessary, Hebei officials said yesterday.
They vowed to "strictly control the movement of people and vehicles", with all residential estates placed under "closed management" or lockdown.
Hebei residents are also banned from entering Beijing or leaving the province unless absolutely necessary.
"The outbreak was imported from abroad, but the exact origins are currently under in-depth investigation by state, provincial and municipal experts," said Mr Li Qi, head of the Hebei Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, at a press briefing yesterday.
Chinese officials have repeatedly tried to link recurrent domestic outbreaks to strains of the virus circulating overseas, suggesting that it has been brought back into China by returning travellers and contaminated packaging of imported food products.
There are rising fears that travel plans for hundreds of millions of people during next month's Chinese New Year may be ruined as virus controls tighten.
Officials are starting to signal a low-key new year holiday - which will run from Feb 11 to 17 - nixing the prospect of banquets, parties and public celebrations.
"Mass celebrations, gatherings and fairs are forbidden," said Mr Kang Sen of Beijing's agriculture and rural affairs authority. He added that even funerals should be "brief" and all public events would need prior approval.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
