China's Harbin to conduct city-wide Covid tests ahead of long holiday
Many cities have advised residents to stay put or requiring travellers to report their trips days before their arrival
China's northeastern city of Harbin will conduct a city-wide exercise to test its roughly 10 million people for Covid-19 from Monday, although it has had no recent cases, calling it an pre-emptive move ahead of the long Lunar New Year holiday.
The city government said on its official WeChat account it had made the decision in view of how the week-long holiday, which officially starts on Jan. 31, was a peak travel period for the country.
"Many cities recently reported cases of the local Omicron infection so prevention and control has to be very rigorous," the Harbin government added.
Cities across China have in recent weeks imposed tougher restrictions to try to control new outbreaks of Covid-19, a task that has also taken on extra urgency as Beijing prepares to host the Winter Olympics at the start of next month.
Many cities have advised residents to stay put or requiring travellers to report their trips days before their arrival.
