Lockdowns in three cities in north China's Hebei province that have been at the centre of the country's latest coronavirus outbreak have been extended, after 90 new cases were reported in the area on Friday.

In the provincial capital Shijiazhuang and nearby Nangong, the lockdown will remain in place until Tuesday, while in Langfang, the restrictions will be extended until Monday, the Hebei government said on Saturday.

A lockdown covering the rest of Xingtai, which administers Nangong, was lifted on Saturday, as were restrictions in Xinji, a county-level city under Shijiazhuang.

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The outbreak in Hebei is the largest in China for several months, and the province's proximity to Beijing has put the government on high alert with the Lunar New Year holiday just weeks away.

While it is traditionally a time when hundreds of millions of Chinese travel home for the festivities, the government is urging people to stay where they are.

A total of 688 cases have been reported in Hebei since January 2, of which 646 were Shijiazhuang, 41 in Xingtai and one in Langfang. Of those, one person has died, according to the Hebei government.

Health workers walk along a street in Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang province. Photo: EPA-EFE alt=Health workers walk along a street in Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang province. Photo: EPA-EFE

Ma Xiaowei, head of the National Health Commission (NHC), said during a televised press conference on Thursday that most of the recent outbreaks, including those in Hebei and northeast China's Heilongjiang province, had been caused by imported cases, though he did not provide any evidence to support such a claim.

China confirmed 130 new cases across the whole of the country on Friday, of which 115 were locally transmitted and 15 were imported, the NHC said. Of the local cases, 83 were in Shijiazhuang, seven were in Xingtai and 23 were in Heilongjiang.

A total of 79 asymptomatic cases - which China does not include in its official tally - were also reported on Friday, of which 24 were imported.

Meanwhile, 81 new infections - 32 confirmed and 49 asymptomatic - in the northeast China city of Tonghua in Jilin province have been linked to a single visitor to the city. The superspreader - who showed no symptoms of Covid-19 - is known to have travelled to Tonghua from Heilongjiang on January 7.

Ma said on Thursday that the new outbreaks showed the need for tighter control and prevention measures, especially in rural areas where sanitation facilities are often poor.

In Beijing, the government said overseas travellers should monitor their health for seven days after 21 days of quarantine in a hotel or at home. The city is the latest to ask people to be extra vigilant.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2021 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

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