China takes soft approach to lockdown as coronavirus cases rise
- Venues closed, tourist and religious activities suspended and residents urged to stay home as nine local cases reported on Monday
- It is the highest number of locally transmitted cases reported in a single day since the end of September
Under a national policy of zero tolerance of domestic coronavirus clusters, cities with new infections have quickly tracked down and tested contacts of infections and sealed off higher-risk areas.
Five of the nine new local cases were found in Xian in the northwestern province of Shaanxi, and two were in the northern Chinese region of Inner Mongolia, the National Health Commission (NHC) said on Tuesday.
In Xian, some tourist sites have been closed to carry out disinfection, and visitors coming into the city from outside the province must show proof of negative results of test taken in the previous 48 hours before they can enter sites of hotels.
Changsha in the central province of Hunan and Yinchuan in the Ningxia autonomous region in the northwest also reported one case each for October 18, according to the NHC.
Yinchuan has advised residents not to leave town for unnecessary trips, and closed public venues such as bars and cinemas in two districts with higher virus risk.