China locks down 5 million people in Langfang City after one Covid case reported
CHINA has placed 5 million residents in Langfang City under tight lockdown after local health authorities reported a single case of coronavirus for the first time in months.
China: Several cities under 'strict lockdown' says expert
The new case was reported in Hebei province, northern China, where several cities are under lockdown following the country's first death from COVID-19 in eight months. Residents of Langfang City have been prevented from leaving as the authorities imposed firebreak restrictions. The nation recorded its greatest daily rise in coronavirus cases for more than ten months with infections in northeastern Heilongjiang province nearly tripling this month.
Correspondent Didi Tang told Times Radio: "Langfang only reported one case, it is a city of almost five million people that reported only one case and then the authorities came in and shut down the whole city.
"So nobody in the city of Langfang was able to get out. For only one case they shut down the city. "
The city in Hebei located 35 miles south of Beijing, was ordered into a strict seven-day lockdown on Tuesday.
The quarantine measures imposed involve testing for COVID-19 after new cases emerged as well as a restriction of traffic leaving the area.
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The National Health Commission said 124 of the new cases were local infections, 81 of which were reported in Hebei province surrounding Beijing and 43 in northeastern Heilongjiang province.
It is a small fraction of the numbers experienced as China struggled at the beginning of the pandemic before aggressive suppression measures were introduced.
A total of 138 new COVID-19 cases were reported on January 13, up from 115 cases a day earlier, The National Health Commission said in a statement.
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China: Several cities under 'strict lockdown' says expert
The death of a woman from Hebei after she tested positive for covid has shocked people in mainland China, where the last reported death was in May 2020.
Ms Tang told TimesRadio's John Pienaar: "The official really haven't given too many details regarding this death.
"But it is shocking as China did not see any coronavirus deaths since May for the past eight months.
"We have been told it involves a woman and she had an underlying disease and she was apparently very ill at one point before she died on Wednesday afternoon."
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She added: "She is from the city Shijiazhuang, that's the place where the first cases of this round of coronavirus cases were reported
"So that was the epicentre of this latest outbreak."
Ten scientists from the World Health Organisation arrived in Wuhan, ground-zero of China's first virus outbreak on Thursday to conduct research relating to coronavirus.
Beijing is looking to get to grips with the new cases ahead of next month Lunar New Year holiday which sees hundreds of millions of travel to their home towns.
