Residents get on a bus in Dalian on August 29, 2022. Photo: VCG

Dalian, a port city in Northeast China's Liaoning Province, will further strengthen prevention and control management for five days starting from Tuesday, amid the latest COVID-19 flare-up in the city that started on August 20.

The city, which is home to more than 7.45 million people, registered 15 new asymptomatic cases on Monday, all detected during the city's mass nucleic acid testing. Five areas have been updated to COVID-19 middle-risk regions on Monday.

Residents in the main districts of the city are required to stay home. Each household in the COVID-19 low risk areas can arrange for at most one person to go out once a day to buy daily supplies. Residents are also encouraged to wear N95 masks when going outside, said a statement city authorities issued on Monday.

The city will shut down places of business and require residents to work from home except for those working for essential departments including market supplies, public service and epidemic prevention; public entertainment places will be closed; primary and middle schools will delay opening dates for the fall semester.

Buses and subways will be temporarily suspended in the main districts, but taxis and online ride-hailing will continue to operate.

Dalian is one of the COVID-19 hotspot cities in China in recent years. Areas in the city had seen multiple lockdowns due to previous epidemic outbreaks.

In April, the city was hit by a wave of infection related with an apparel factory which imported fabrics from neighboring countries.