(CNN) – At least 27 Chinese cities are under full or partial lockdown due to Covid-19, which could affect up to 165 million residents across the country, according to CNN calculations.
In a briefing on Wednesday afternoon, Beijing authorities indicated that 46 locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 were identified in the 24 hours between 4:00 pm on Tuesday and Wednesday, bringing the total number of infections to 138 since April 22, the date of the spread virus. The outbreak was detected for the first time.
It is not known if these 46 new cases were included in the data released early Wednesday by the country’s National Health Commission, and how many of these new cases were.
More than half of Beijing’s total cases were detected in Chaoyang District, the largest district, and nearly a third of the cases were in students, according to officials. On Wednesday, Chaoyang District had its second round of group auditions. The third round is scheduled for Friday.
The Chinese capital, Beijing, tested nearly 20 million residents in 12 regions this week, after expanding mass testing due to a spike in cases. Currently, 5 areas of the city are classified as high risk and 16 as medium risk.
For their part, authorities in the northeastern cities of Changchun and Jilin said the lockdown will be gradually eased from Thursday after more than a month of restrictions that prevented residents from leaving their homes. The two cities, which have a combined population of more than 13.5 million, were closed respectively on March 11 and 21.
Since the beginning of March, more than 70,000 local cases have been recorded between the two cities.