New coronavirus cases in China's locked-down city of Xi'an have edged down, official data showed, while local authorities removed two senior officials to “strengthen” their fight against Covid.

Beijing has pursued a “zero Covid” approach with tight border restrictions and targeted lockdowns since the virus first emerged, but this strategy has come under pressure with recent local outbreaks.

Xi'an announced that two senior Communist Party officials from the Yanta district had been removed from their posts, according to local media, in a bid to “strengthen the work of epidemic prevention and control” in the area, AFP reported.

Last month, China's disciplinary body announced that dozens of officials were punished for “insufficient rigour in preventing and controlling the outbreak”.