China has posted its biggest daily jump in COVID cases in more than five months, stepping up containment measures that have seen four cities put under lockdown.
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The measures are being imposed as the world's second biggest economy scrambles to head off a new wave of infections.
Most of the new cases were reported near the capital, Beijing, but a province in the far northeast also saw a rise in infections, official data showed, amid a resurgence that has seen more than 28 million people put under home quarantine.
While the Chinese city of Wuhan was the initial epicentre of the coronavirus, which emerged there in late 2019, China had in recent months largely kept it at bay.
On Wednesday, the National Health Commission reported a total of 115 new confirmed cases on the mainland, compared with 55 the previous day, the highest daily increase since July 30.
It said 107 of the new cases were local infections. Hebei, the province that surrounds Beijing, accounted for 90 cases, while northeastern Heilongjiang province reported 16 new cases.
The wave of infections is likely to put a damper on next month's Lunar New Year holiday, when hundreds of millions of people typically travel to their home towns. Far fewer are expected to hit the road this year, and many provinces have asked migrant workers to stay put during the break.
A "massive" resurgence is unlikely during the holiday if control and prevention measures are enforced properly, Feng Zijian, deputy director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told a media briefing.
The spike in new cases comes as a World Health Organisation team of experts investigating the origins of the pandemic is set to arrive on Thursday in Wuhan. The team will have to spend 14 days in quarantine, NHC spokesman Mi Feng said.
Much remains unknown about the origins of the coronavirus and China has been sensitive about accusations of a cover-up that delayed its initial response and allowed the virus to spread.
Hebei province has put three cities - Shijiazhuang, Xingtai and Langfang - into lockdown, while Beijing city authorities have stepped up screening and prevention measures.
China has administered more than 10 million vaccine doses, NHC official Wang Bin said on Wednesday, and has ramped up testing capacity to 12.55 million people per day, or 10 times the level last March.
Heilongjiang province on Wednesday declared a COVID-19 emergency. The city of Suihua, which borders the provincial capital Harbin, put its 5.2 million people under lockdown.
Most of the cases in Heilongjiang have been found in Wangkui county, under Suihua's jurisdiction. Tieli, a city of about 300,000 that borders Suihua, said on Wednesday it would ban people and vehicles from leaving for three days as part of new COVID-19 prevention measures.
The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, fell to 38 from 81 cases a day earlier.
The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in mainland China now stands at 87,706, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4634.
Australian Associated Press
