Today, January 13, China recorded the highest one-day case total in more than five months, according to the country’s National Health Commission.
Most of the new patients recorded in Tuesday’s figures were near the capital, Beijing, but a province in north-east China also saw a rise in new cases. The National Health Commission said in a statement that 115 new confirmed cases were reported in the mainland for 12 January, compared with 55 a day earlier. This was the highest daily increase since 30 July.
Hebei, the province that surrounds Beijing, has put three cities, Shijiazhuang, Xingtai and Langfang, into lockdown. City authorities in Beijing have stepped up screening and prevention measures to prevent the development of another cluster of infections.
The uptick in cases comes as a team assembled by the World Health Organization to investigate the origins of the virus prepares to arrive in Wuhan, the city at the heart of the global outbreak.
