China isolates 11 million people after 100 infected are discovered

Residents are barred from leaving the city, and schools are also closed.

More than 5,000 testing points have been set up so that any resident can be tested.

The new figures are the highest China has seen in more than five months. The country has been able to contain such explosions by taking sharp action.

This has included continued use of mass testing when new groups of cases appear, even if they appear to be relatively small.

Provinca Hebei, where Shijizaguang is located, reported 120 new cases Thursday, and all except one of these infections were in town. Somewhere else in the country, 22 new cases were confirmed.

The virus was first discovered in the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of 2019 before appearing in a global pandemic.

Thursday's ban comes just weeks before the Chinese New Year, a time when people in China travel massively to spend holidays with their families.

But residents of Shijihagu's Gaoceng district, considered the epicentre of the explosion, are not now allowed to leave their area. Others were forbidden to leave the city.

As for transportation, bus travel has been banned, and many flights have been canceled.