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CChinese authorities closed a city of nearly five million people on Tuesday and imposed strict travel restrictions on several others as they worked to quash a number of Covid-19 clusters near Beijing, AFP reports.
The country had largely slowed the spread of the virus, with small outbreaks quickly eliminated through massive testing, local closures and travel restrictions.
But North China’s Hebei Province has reported 560 new cases in recent weeks, 234 of which are asymptomatic, prompting a series of new lockdowns and restrictions.
Residents of Langfang, a manufacturing hub about 55 kilometers south of Beijing, have been banned from leaving the city for seven days unless absolutely necessary.
“All family reunions should be canceled … all postponed marriages and simplified funerals until the epidemic situation has subsided,” the Langfang city government said in a statement. Authorities will now rush to examine the 4.9 million residents in two days, the local health office said, after a case was discovered in Gu’an County of Langfang.
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