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Chinese authorities on Tuesday forced more than a million people to isolate homes in the central city after three cases of the corona virus were reported in people who showed no symptoms.
Beijing has taken a “zero-govt” approach by tightening border controls and enforcing specific closure measures since the virus outbreak.
But its strategy comes under pressure in light of the recent epidemic, which comes just a month before the Winter Olympics.
Liusov, who has a population of about 1.17 million in Henan province, announced that all residents would have to stay home from Monday night to control the spread of the virus.
The announcement comes as three injuries have been discovered in recent days.
A report released Monday said residents in the downtown area “should not leave their homes,” while “guards and gates” in all communities “must strictly implement measures to prevent and combat the epidemic.”
The city had earlier announced it would suspend bus and taxi services and close shopping malls, museums and tourist sites.
On Tuesday, 175 new COVID-19 cases were reported in China, five of them in Henan province and eight separate groups affiliated with a garment factory in the eastern city of Ningbo.
Although the number of reported injuries is lower than the number reported in other countries, China has recorded the number of unseen injuries since March 2020 in recent weeks.
95 new infections were reported on Tuesday in the historic city of Xi’an on the border with Shanxi Province, which has been closed for almost two weeks.
Xi’an has recorded more than 1,600 injuries since December 9, although the number has begun to drop in the past few days from what was recorded last week.
Authorities will also fire or punish officers in areas where the virus is spreading, prompting provincial administrations to take more drastic measures to quickly remove any hotspots.
In Xi’an, two senior Communist Party officials were fired for failing to act “tough enough to fight and control the explosion.”
Last month, the regulatory body in China announced that dozens of officials had been punished for failing to contain the spread of the disease in a city in the north of the country.
The number of injuries has risen ahead of next month’s Winter Olympics in Beijing.
