More than 900,000 people in the Hanyang district were instructed to stay at home until 30 October after the central Chinese city, the location of the first COVID-19 epidemic in the globe in late 2019, reported 20 to 25 new illnesses daily.

28 cities across the country are implementing some degree of lockdown measures, with around 207 million people affected in regions responsible for almost a quarter of China's GDP.

The new measures come after Chinese government officials said there were more than 1,300 new coronavirus cases nationwide on Friday, with no deaths. (ILKHA)