Millions of Chinese people face bans from public spaces including schools, hospitals and shopping malls unless they get a Covid-19 vaccine, under new edicts covering nearly two dozen cities and counties, reports AFP.

The tough new rules, which follow the emergence of the highly contagious Delta variant across Asia, will be imposed on numerous second-tier cities in a possible marker of what is to come for the whole country.

China has a national target of inoculating 64 per cent of its 1.4 billion population by end of the year.

A woman receives a nucleic acid test for Covid-19 in Wuhan, China. — Reuters/File
A woman receives a nucleic acid test for Covid-19 in Wuhan, China. — Reuters/File

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