Beijing Travel to a city in northern China of 11 million people has been restricted and schools closed as authorities moved on Wednesday to wipe out a group of residents. Covid-19 Cases after more than 100 infections were confirmed.

Ten major highways leading to the city of Shijiazhuang, about 200 miles south of Beijing, have been closed, and a bus station has been closed in an effort to prevent the virus from spreading outside the city in Hebei Province.

China’s state newspaper Global Times said all train ticket sales from neighboring Hebei Province to the capital were halted and Shijiazhuang Long-distance Bus Terminal closed as officials announced that Hebei is in „war mode“ against the virus.

There were 117 cases in the city, including at least 63 others that were reported Wednesday. A total of 78 of the cases were asymptomatic, prompting mass testing across the affected area.

Unlike much of the world, China has largely brought the virus under control, through strict lockdowns and travel restrictions. But there has been a series of local outbreaks in recent weeks, leading to mass testing and targeted lockdowns.

Xiaoguozhuang Village within the city limits has been classified as a „high risk“ area and has been closed down.

Health authorities said that all 40,000 residents of that area had been tested for the virus.

Official television showed footage of the villagers while they were being tested by employees wearing full protective suits of hazardous materials and protective equipment, along with roadblocks staffed by police and medical workers.

All schools in Shijiazhuang have been closed.

The state broadcaster CCTV showed teams of health workers to spray disinfectants on the streets and said that an emergency team of medical workers had been sent to the city.

Authorities said more than 400,000 residents of the other nearby city of Nangong had been tested.

The Global Times quoted Feng Zijian, vice president of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, as telling state television on Tuesday that the COVID-19 strain that caused cases in Hebei was imported, „it is very likely that it was from Europe,“ according to the newspaper. Times.

Feng reportedly said that tests are underway to confirm what kind of disease appeared in Hebei and where it came from. In late 2020, a new highly contagious strain of coronavirus appeared in southeast England, and it is now He blamed the massive increase in injuries Across the UK, British officials have said the variant is between 50% and 70% easier to pass from person to person.

South Africa has also identified a new strain of the disease, which is also believed to be more contagious than the one widely spread around the world for a year, and which could prove to be infected with some Resistance to current vaccine formulas Being raised.

Beijing races to vaccinate millions before the country’s Lunar New Year travel peak next month.