Alarm in China before coronavirus epidemic | Make…

The government of a Chinese province ordered the confinement of two cities located south of Beijing where 18 million people live, after having detected more than 300 cases of coronavirus, representing the largest outbreak of the disease in six months in the country where the pandemic occurred.

China has succeeded in stopping Covid-19 on its territory since its appearance in Wuhan in late 2019, thanks to massive tests, local lockdowns and movement restrictions. However, the alarm lights came on after the last search. Hebei province has 127 new cases of Covid-19, in addition to 183 other asymptomatic infections. The province reported 33 new cases in the past 24 hours, on top of 51 the previous day, bringing the national daily total to the highest level since last July.

The vast majority of the new ones were detected in Shijiazhuang, a city of several million inhabitants which, adding its periphery, has 11 million inhabitants. In the nearby city of Xingtai, where 7 million people live, nine cases of coronavirus were recorded on Thursday.

Residents of Shijiazhuang and Xingtai are prohibited from leaving these cities on or after Friday, except when absolutely necessary., according to what was ruled by the Hebei authorities. They also pledged to “strictly control the movement of people and vehicles” and all developments must be under “closed management”, a euphemism for detention.

Residents of Hebei are also prohibited from entering or leaving Beijing. While residents of four Hebei cities and fifteen counties around Beijing must test negative for Covid-19 within 72 hours before they can enter the capital, along with proof that they have an address or location working there.

“The epidemic was imported from abroad, but the exact origins are currently being studied in depth by state, provincial and municipal experts,” Li Qi of the Hebei Center for Disease Control and Prevention said today at a press conference. Li added that the outbreak was concentrated in Gaocheng District in Shijiazhuang and other infections in the province were linked to the outbreak.

Chinese authorities often link recurring outbreaks in the country with strains of the virus circulating abroad, suggesting they may be returned to China with returning travelers or in contaminated packaging of imported food. For the moment, the Asian giant has accumulated more than 87,000 coronavirus infections to date, including 4,634 deaths. The country reports asymptomatic cases, but does not include them in the official infection tally.