Coronavirus: Chinese capital on alert as cases rise next door in Hebei
- With key political meetings and a big holiday on the horizon, local governments are keen to shut down outbreaks, analyst says
- The virus has spread rapidly in the province but ‘the situation is controllable’
The epicentre of the Hebei outbreak is the provincial capital of Shijiazhuang, a city of 11 million people, which is under lockdown to try to safeguard the “political security” of Beijing, according to Hebei officials.
Since the first case was recorded in the province on Saturday, 127 locally transmitted cases have been confirmed in the province along with 183 asymptomatic ones.
Most of the cases were in Shijiazhuang, where a number of residents attended a series of weddings, funerals and other events in a rural village administered by the city, health authorities said. Other cases were in the neighbouring city of Xingtai.
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Coronavirus: Hebei province reports 120 new local cases in China’s biggest Covid-19 rise in months
Beijing Chaoyang Hospital deputy head Tong Zhaohui, who was sent by the National Health Commission (NHC) to Shijiazhuang as part of an expert team, said the coronavirus had spread rapidly but “the situation is controllable”.