Sharjah24 – Reuters: Parts of northern China are bracing for more COVID-19 curbs as a wave of cases raises concerns of a broader outbreak, with three areas enforcing lockdowns, some schools halting classes, and an aerospace firm delaying work on a rocket project.

China reported 13 new domestically transmitted cases for Oct. 20, bringing the total number since Oct. 16 to 42, data from the National Health Commission (NHC) showed on Thursday.

Alxa Left Banner, a small administrative division in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia, said late on Wednesday it had imposed a lockdown and would test its population of 180,000, after the city of Erenhot and a division called Ejina Banner barred people from leaving amid local outbreaks.

The lockdowns are small compared with the one seen during early 2020 in the much larger, denser city of Wuhan.

The latest cluster, involving mostly northern and northwestern China, has reached the capital, Beijing, and the neighbouring Hebei province, where officials pledged stringent measures against the virus as they stepped up preparations for the 2022 Winter Olympics Games in February.

The one local case reported in Beijing on Oct. 19 was the first since August.