The newly built Baiyangdian Avenue, which links China's Baoding City and Xiongan New Area, opens to traffic on October 31, 2018. Photo: VCG

Baoding, a city in North China's Hebei Province, declared it was entering wartime status due to its geographic proximity with Beijing, which has seen a spike in local infections. 

Officials in Baoding held a meeting on Saturday saying that the city, around 150 kilometers from Beijing, should be very cautious and carefully prevent infections from the capital, stating, "Every gate to Baoding should be strictly guarded to prevent the contagion from spreading in the city."

Baoding then decided to swiftly enter wartime mode, according to the meeting statement, which was released on Baoding government website on Monday.

Officials said at the conference that communities and villages should impose grid-management mode, while employers should test all their staff and maintain distance between everyone. 

They said that the city must pay attention to infections entering Baoding from the capital, and take the temperatures and register people returning from Beijing. 

Beijing reported 36 new local confirmed cases on Sunday, bringing the recent total to 79 from Thursday. A further six asymptomatic patients were also reported on Sunday. 

Hebei's health authority reported three more cases and one asymptomatic case on Sunday, all of whom had close contacts with Beijing's cases.

Global Times