Jilin, a city in the northeastern Chinese province of the same name, is under lockdown after detecting seven new COVID-19 cases in two days, the provincial health authority announced Wednesday.

“The outbreak situation in Jilin is very serious,” Gai Dongping, the city’s deputy mayor, said during a press conference Wednesday. “There’s a high risk (of the virus) spreading further.”

According to the new measures, residential communities in Jilin City, home to some 2 million residents, are now closed-off to outsiders, and all entertainment venues and schools have been suspended.

The city’s cluster of coronavirus cases is linked to a dozen infections in the neighboring county-level city of Shulan that were first reported Friday. (Image: Xinhua)