Authorities in China are imposing new lockdowns and other measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 after 100 coronavirus cases were reported across 11 provinces over the past week.
Infections have been recorded in regions including Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Ningxia, Guizhou and Beijing - with travel agencies being banned from organising tours in the provinces.
Residents in Lanzhou, a city of four million inhabitants, were told not to leave their homes unless in emergency situations after six cases were recorded on Tuesday.
Ejin Banner is one of the cities in Inner Mongolia that have suspended trains, buses and taxi services, according to the Transportation Ministry.
In Beijing, authorities are scrambling to lock down apartment blocks and impose entry restrictions into the city.
Travellers from places with confirmed Covid-19 cases need to present a negative coronavirus test and undergo 14 days of health monitoring.
Beijing recorded 14 confirmed cases in the latest outbreak, including 12 over the past three days, CNN reports.
In a district, a 20-year-old was reportedly arrested and put in detention for 10 days for refusing to scan a health code, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
Mi Feng, a spokesman at the National Health Commission (NHC), said at a news conference on Saturday: "Since October 17, there have been multiple scattered local outbreaks in China, and they're expanding rapidly.
"There is an increasing risk that the outbreak will spread even further."
Beijing resident Xu Dongjie said thousands of people in her community of Baigezhuang had been told to stay at home for 21 days.
She explained: "Such strict control and prevention measures better fit in China than anywhere else.
"Because population intensity in Chinese cities is so high, the consequences without timely and effective control and management are unimaginable."
She added her children would be studying from home and the family would get their food delivered.
The latest restrictions come just 100 days before the start of the Winter Olympics.
The number of cases in China is much lower compared to those in Europe, the United States or Australia, but the country has a strict approach as it aims to eliminate the virus completely.
Quarantine measures combined with high vaccination rates and sharp lockdowns have contributed to keeping the number of cases low.
