A city of almost 1.2million people has been thrown into lockdown after just three cases of coronavirus were detected.
All three cases were found in people without any symptoms and caused the entire city of Yuzhou to be told to stay at home.
All vehicles and public transport have been banned from being used in the city since Monday night.
The 1.2million join more than 13million people in the country currently facing tight lockdown orders ahead of the Winter Olympics which are due to kick off on February 4.
China has said it wants to be Covid-free before the games begin and local officials face the sack if cases are found in their jurisdiction.
All shops, entertainment and leisure venues have been closed and only businesses that “guarantee the supply of daily life materials” can be open.
Officials from the Communist Party in Yuzhou, about 400 miles southwest of the capital Beijing, said in a statement: "So far, the source of the virus is unknown, the number of cases is unclear.
"The virus control and prevention situation in our city is very severe.
"To curb and quash the epidemic within the shortest amount of time is a high-priority political task facing all officials and people in the city."
There were no new fatalities in mainland China for Monday, leaving the death toll since the virus first emerged in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019 unchanged at 4,636.
Mainland China has had 102,841 total confirmed symptomatic cases as of late Monday since the pandemic began.
Yesterday the UK confirmed a further 218,724 coronavirus cases recorded in just one 24 hour period, and more than 13.6million cases since the pandemic began.
