Chinese authorities imposed travel restrictions and banned gatherings in the capital city of Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing, in the latest escalation of measures to stave off another coronavirus wave.

The province, which entered a “wartime mode” a day earlier, accounted for 20 of the 23 new locally transmitted Covid-19 cases reported in mainland China on Jan 5, more than the total of 19 cases in the province in the three previous days.

Hebei also accounted for 43 of 64 new asymptomatic cases — patients who have been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus but not yet showing symptoms of Covid-19, Reuters reported.

Hebei's capital, Shijiazhuang, a city of 11 million that reported 19 confirmed and 41 asymptomatic cases, ramped up countermeasures. It will require all travellers in the present a negative nucleic acid Covid-19 test within the past 72 hours before boarding a train or an airplane.