China's Henan halts provincial travel, imposes partial lockdown amid fresh COVID-19 spike

Beijing [China], January 5 : Cross-provincial travel hit a pause from China's Henan province after a surge was reported in the COVID-19 cases in the region. Authorities have also imposed partial lockdown and suspension of public venues have also been put in place to curb further virus spread, a media report said.
Shangqiu in Henan Province has asked its residents not to leave the city unless necessary and shut down indoor public venues on Wednesday as the latest round of winter epidemic outbreak hit the city with the report of one asymptomatic case from the province's capital of Zhengzhou, reported Global Times.
Zhengzhou has arranged a city-wide all-member nucleic acid test starting Wednesday, according to a notice released Wednesday morning, adding that for residents refusing to take the test, their health code will turn yellow, China's state media said further.
Zhengzhou, with nearly 1.2 million population, is requiring local residents to stay at home from Monday night. Bus and taxi services are also suspended and shopping malls, museums are closed.
Henan province witnessed another four confirmed local cases on Tuesday and another 18 asymptomatic cases, nine of which were from Zhengzhou.
The curbs in the Chinese province are on the rise as on Wednesday morning Shangqiu city issued a notice asking all local residents not to leave the city unless it's needed. The notice also prohibited the opening of pubs, museums, cinemas, and other indoor public venues.