Virus-hit Hebei city restricts traveling

The capital and largest city in northern China’s Hebei Province barred people from leaving on Thursday in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus as the country reported the biggest rise in daily infections in more than five months.

Hebei accounted for 51 of the 52 local cases reported by the National Health Commission on Thursday. This compared with 20 cases reported in the province, which surrounds Beijing, a day earlier.

Total new COVID-19 cases for all of China mainland stood at 63, compared with 32 reported a day earlier, marking the biggest rise in daily cases since 127 cases were reported on July 30.

Among the new locally transmitted cases, 50 were reported in the provincial capital of Shijiazhuang, while 67 asymptomatic cases were also reported in the city.

The public security bureau of Shijiazhuang has imposed interim epidemic prevention and control measures at the city’s railway station, with all passengers temporarily banned from entering the station and boarding the trains. Travelers may contact the railway ticketing department for refunds.

All the vehicles and people in Shijiazhuang are also banned from leaving the city, local authorities said.

Shijiazhuang, home to 11 million people, have launched mass testing drives and banned gatherings to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.

People in the worst-hit Gaocheng District, which has been classified as a high-risk area for COVID-19, have been asked to stay put in the district.

Three officials in Gaocheng have been given Party disciplinary warnings for their dereliction of duty in COVID-19 prevention and control, according to a notice issued by the city’s discipline inspection and supervisory authorities saying they had allowed a woman who had tested positive to leave the area.

The provincial emergency management department has allocated relief materials worth 2.38 million yuan (US$368,900) to assist Shijiazhuang’s epidemic prevention efforts. The relief goods include 1,000 tents and 4,000 cotton overcoats that will aid Shijiazhuang as it carries out citywide nucleic acid testing with epidemic control staff and volunteers.