Millions in China under new restrictions amid escalating COVID-19 near Beijing: Coronavirus Update: NPR

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, medical workers take swabs of residents in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, north China, on January 6. The authorities announced new restrictions to contain the Corona virus.

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In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, medical workers take swabs of residents in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, north China, on January 6. The authorities announced new restrictions to contain the Corona virus.

Mo Yu / AP

Authorities in China are imposing new restrictions on the Coronavirus near Beijing after the recent wave of outbreaks.

The Associated Press reported that the cities of Shijiazhuang and Xingtai, in Hebei Province, issued seven-day stay-at-home orders after a week in which more than 300 people tested positive for the coronavirus.

Several outlets reported that local officials announced restrictions on outbound travel from Shijiazhuang, home to 11 million residents, as well as bans on gatherings, school closures and the closure of some villages and residential communities.

Beijing is also requiring workers from the province to provide evidence that they are working in the city and test negative for coronavirus for entry. The Associated Press, citing Chinese media, said the entry points into Beijing contained hours of backups on Friday.

The South China Morning Newspaper It quoted provincial officials as saying that the lockdown in Shijiazhuang was necessary for “political security” in Beijing, which borders the province.

The SCMP goes on to report that several cases in Shijiazhuang are linked to a series of weddings, funerals and other events in a rural village under the city administration.

CNN I mentioned this week About 3,000 healthcare workers have been sent to the city to conduct comprehensive testing. By Thursday, more than 6 million samples had been collected, and about 2 million samples were tested.

By Saturday, more than 40,000 medical professionals had been mobilized to test about 13 million people in four cities, the Medical Research Center reported.

These later restrictions make comparisons with Lockdown in Wuhan, That started last January, just before the Lunar New Year holiday. The city in Hubei Province, which was the first epicenter of the epidemic, has closed its borders and Restricted movement for 76 days Before new cases begin to diminish.

Since then, China has been thought to turn somewhat on the epidemic, keeping new cases relatively low compared to the United States and most of the world.

Reuters reported that the outbreak in Shijiazhuang was representing most of the country New cases on Thursday. In all, China has confirmed more than 96,600 cases of coronavirus and 4,700 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.