With 17 new cases, Covid-19 in China's northwest city continues to surge

Numbers of confirmed coronavirus cases in China's northwestern city of Urumqi continue to rise, with another 17 reported on Monday, bringing the total in China's latest outbreak to at least 47.

Another five cases were brought from outside the country, according to the National Health Commission.

No new deaths were reported, leaving the total at 4,634 among 83,682 cases, and 249 people remain in treatment. Another 158 people were being monitored in isolation for showing signs of having the virus or for testing positive without displaying symptoms.

China had largely contained local transmission of the virus before the Urumqi outbreak and has taken swift action to bring it under control.

The city has cut subway, bus and taxi service, closed some communities, imposed travel restrictions and ordered widespread testing.

Social controls are already tight across the Xinjiang region of which Urumqi is the capital as part of what Beijing calls a campaign to curb terrorism and religious extremism. Rights groups and foreign government have accused China on widespread human rights abuses against the region's Uighurs and other Muslim minority groups.

Beijing meanwhile, has gone 14 days without a case of local transmission and city authorities on Sunday said they were downgrading the emergency response level from two to three. The move is largely symbolic, with measures including mandatory social distancing, temperature checks and 14-day quarantines for passengers arriving from abroad remaining in place.

Hong Kong, meanwhile, has seen a spike in cases, with more than 100 reported on Sunday. That has prompted the semi-autonomous southern Chinese city to reimpose measures including closing indoor entertainment venues and public libraries, and imposing additional quarantine measures on travelers arriving from seven countries where the risk of infection is considered especially high, including South Africa.