Mainland China saw its biggest daily increase in Covid-19 cases in more than five months, the country's national health authority said, as new infections in Hebei province surrounding Beijing continued to rise.

A county in the northeastern Heilongjiang province also moved into lockdown after reporting new novel coronavirus infections, state television also reported separately.

Hebei accounted for 82 of the 85 new local infections reported on Jan 10, the National Health Commission (NHC) said in a statement, with Liaoning Province also reporting two new cases and Beijing reporting one new case. The country also saw 18 new imported infections from overseas.

Though the new cases being reported in recent days remain a small fraction of what the country saw at the height of the outbreak in early 2020, authorities are moving aggressively to curb the spread of the disease and prevent another national wave of infections, according to Reuters.