OF THE
TIMES
Local governments in major cities including Beijing have now tested millions of residents, while cordoning off residential compounds and placing close contacts under quarantine.
The central city of Zhuzhou in Hunan province ordered over 1.2 million residents today to stay home under strict lockdown for the next three days as it rolls out a citywide testing and vaccination campaign, according to an official statement. "The situation is still grim and complicated," the Zhuzhou government said.
...
Zhangjiajie locked down all 1.5 million residents on Friday.
Officials are urgently seeking people who have recently travelled from Nanjing or Zhangjiajie, and have urged tourists not to travel to areas where cases have been found.
Meanwhile, Beijing has blocked tourists from entering the capital during the peak summer holiday travel season.
Only "essential travellers" with negative nucleic acid tests will be allowed to enter after the discovery of a handful of cases among residents who had returned from Zhangjiajie.
Top city officials have called for residents "not to leave Beijing unless necessary".
The capital's Changping district locked down 41,000 people in nine housing communities last week.
The cases - three of which were symptomatic and five asymptomatic - were among 84 new cases reported across China in the 24 hours to Monday evening. On Tuesday, Wuhan health official Li Tao said they were "swiftly launching comprehensive nucleic acid testing" of all 11 million residents.
1) They genuinely want to limit its spread to their citizens for some beneficial reason(s).
or
2) It provides an opportunity to control their citizens for some reason(s).