Nationnewslead reports that The Chinese authorities have shut down Shijiazhuang and Xingtai cities in Hebei south of Beijing, in a bid to stem the country’s largest COVID-19 outbreak in six months.
Transport links with the two cities, both of which boast a combined population of 18million, have been cut and residents barred from leaving.
Hebei province in northern China has seen 127 new COVID-19 cases, plus an additional 183 asymptomatic infections, in the past week.
Most of the cases were reported while nine confirmed cases were in the neighbouring city of Xingtai.
The Chinese National Health Commission has reported 53 confirmed cases for Thursday, including 37 native patients and 16 imported infections. Among the local cases, 33 were detected in Hebei.
City-wide mass testing drives started on Monday from Shijiazhuang’s Gaocheng District, the epicentre of the Hebei outbreak.
As of Friday noon, all of the district’s 673,787 residents had been tested and 511,219 swab samples had been analysed by labs, which found 259 positive cases, the city’s vice mayor Meng Xianghong, said at a press briefing.
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