China has locked down a city of 11 million people in its northern province of Hebei, in order to contain the country’s worst coronavirus flare-up in months.
Residents of Shijiazhuang, a provincial capital close to Beijing, have been barred from leaving the city, as major highways were blocked, train and bus stations closed and flights cancelled. The lockdown comes as a total of 117 Covid-19 infections including 67 asymptomatic cases were detected in Shijiazhuang on Wednesday.
On Thursday, Shijiazhuang identified another 66 positive cases, according to the Hebei provincial health commission. Since January 2, a total of 304 positive cases have been reported in Hebei, most of which were in Shijiazhuang, official figures show.
The outbreak in Shijiazhuang comes just weeks before the Lunar New Year holiday, the most important annual festival in China which sees millions of people travelling home to reunite with family.