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HEALTH-VIRUS-CHINA
China places 5 million more under lockdown to stamp out virus cluster
BEIJING, Jan 12, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Chinese authorities sealed off a city
of almost five million people and imposed strict travel restrictions on
several others on Tuesday as they worked to quash a number of Covid-19
clusters near Beijing.
The country had largely curbed the spread of the coronavirus, which first
emerged in Wuhan in late 2019, with small outbreaks swiftly snuffed out using
mass testing, local lockdowns and travel restrictions.
But Hebei province in northern China has reported 560 new cases in recent
weeks — 234 of which are asymptomatic — sparking a raft of new lockdowns
and restrictions.
Residents of Langfang, a manufacturing hub around 55 kilometres south of
Beijing, have been banned from leaving the city for seven days unless
absolutely necessary.
“All family gatherings should be cancelled…all marriages postponed and
funerals simplified until the epidemic situation has subsided,” the Langfang
city government said in a statement.
Officials will now rush to test all 4.9 million residents in two days,
the local health bureau said, after one case was discovered in Langfang’s
Gu’an county.
Authorities last week launched a mass testing drive and closed transport
links, schools and shops in the neighbouring city of Shijiazhuang — the
epicentre of the latest outbreak — with its 11 million residents required to
undergo two rounds of testing.
Neighbouring Xingtai, home to seven million people, has also been locked
down since last Friday.
The worsening situation prompted Hebei province’s local government to
indefinitely postpone an annual legislative meeting that was due to be held
this month.
A steady trickle of new coronavirus cases has surfaced in China’s
northern provinces since October, prompting strict restrictions despite the
number of infections being small compared to outbreaks in many other
countries.
The curbs come ahead of February’s Lunar New Year, when hundreds of
millions criss-cross China to visit family and friends, and authorities are
anxious to contain the spread of the virus before the massive annual
migration. Suihua city in Heilongjiang province — home to over 5.2 million –
– was sealed off on Monday after the city reported one confirmed case and 45
asymptomatic cases.
Shanxi province has also limited internal travel and rolled out mass
testing, after a patient from neighbouring Hebei province was reported to
have travelled there.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1628 hrs