Coronavirus: China locks down 3 mln people amid COVID-19 outbreak linked to salesman

Nearly three million people were put under lockdown in China Monday after a surge in coronavirus cases linked to a traveling salesman in the country’s northeast.

While China has largely brought the virus under control, a sharp rise in cases in the past few weeks has prompted fresh lockdowns, travel restrictions and multiple rounds of mass testing.

Monday saw three million residents of two cities in northeastern Jilin province placed under new measures, as China reported 109 new infections.

More than 19 million people across China’s northeast are now barred from leaving their homes, and in some cases can only apply for permission to go grocery shopping once every three days.

Authorities have traced over a hundred infections in Jilin province to an asymptomatic traveling salesman from neighboring Heilongjiang, where authorities last week declared a state of emergency.

Last Update: Monday, 18 January 2021 KSA 12:56 – GMT 09:56