China puts 13 million residents in Covid-19 lockdown, biggest since Wuhan

China is redoubling efforts to control new virus outbreaks with a lockdown of the 13 million residents of the northern city of Xi'an following a spike in coronavirus cases.

The measure comes just weeks before the country hosts the Winter Olympics in Beijing, roughly 1,000 kilometers to the west.

There was no word on whether the virus was the newly surging omicron variant or the far more common delta.

The Xi'an restrictions are some of the harshest since China in 2020 imposed a strict lockdown on more than 11 million people in and around the central city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus was first detected in late 2019.

Also watch: Hospitalisation rates for Omicron lower than Delta, studies raise hope

Residents have been asked to remain in their homes and only one designated person to go out every two days to buy household necessities. Non-essential travel out of the city was banned.

Xi'an on Thursday reported another 63 locally transmitted cases, pushing the city's total to at least 211 over the past week. Xi'an is the capital of Shaanxi province, famed for its imperial relics, as well as a major center of industry.