CHINA / SOCIETY By GT staff reporters Published: Jan 12, 2021 09:35 PM
Residents line up to take nucleic acid test at a community in Shijiazhuang, North China s Hebei Province, on January 7, 2021. Photo: VCG
About 22 million people in three cities of Hebei Province neighboring the capital Beijing have been placed under COVID-19 lockdown as of Tuesday, twice the size of the population that was put under lockdown during the Wuhan epidemic, as Hebei has vowed to take resolute measures to prevent the epidemic from spreading to the capital.
The lockdown measures in Hebei cities - Shijiazhuang, Xingtai and Langfang - were not as harsh as Wuhan s as residents in Hebei could go downstairs to pick up their deliveries or purchase food from stores inside their residential communities. Vehicles and people in the three cities are not allowed to leave, unless necessary, Hebei authorities said at Tuesday s news briefing.