In order to curb the spread of the coronavirus,largest city in northern China’s Hebei province banned people from leaving on Thursday because the country reported the largest number of daily infections in five months.
Hebei accounted for 51 of the 52 local cases reported by the National Health Commission on Thursday.
Authorities in Shijiazhuang, home to 11 million people, have launched mass testing drives and banned gatherings to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.
The city had previously required travellers to present a negative nucleic acid COVID-19 test result taken within 72 hours before boarding a train or a plane in the province.
The number of asymptomatic carriers has increased from 64 to 79 a day ago. Some have been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the disease yet to develope any symptoms.
In Dalian, Liaoning Province in northeastern China, local infections have been reported in the city in recent days, so residents in high-risk areas are prohibited from leaving the city.
Some scientists worry that COVID-19 vaccines currently being rolled out may not be able to protect against this variant because of certain mutations that have been observed.
