Number of cases still rising in north-east China

The number of new coronavirus cases in an outbreak in China's northeast tripled Sunday and authorities stepped up anti-disease controls by suspending bus services to Shanghai and ordering residents of another city to stay at home.

The case numbers in China's latest surge of infections are low compared with some other countries. But authorities are enforcing a "zero tolerance" strategy that temporarily shuts down cities to isolate every infected person, despite a rising economic cost.

The government reported 1,938 new cases on China's mainland in the 24 hours through midnight Saturday, more than three times the previous day's total. In Shanghai, China's most populous city with 24 million people, the number of cases in the latest surge rose by 15 to 432.