China locks down entire cities over tiny COVID outbreaks to prevent spread ahead of Beijing Olympics

Beijing — The city of Zhengzhou ordered its nearly 13 million residents to take COVID-19 tests Wednesday after a handful of cases were detected, as China fights to stamp out virus clusters ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics. Everyone in Zhengzhou, which has been placed under a partial lockdown, must be tested to "thoroughly uncover infections hidden among the public," the city's government said in a statement Wednesday.

The city has detected 11 cases in recent days.

The mass-testing order came as case numbers in the locked-down city of Xi'an fell to their lowest in weeks, with officials saying that outbreak had been "brought under control."