China’s Inner Mongolia quarantines tourists over virus fears

BEIJING (AP) — More than 2,000 tourists visiting China’s Inner Mongolia region have been sent to hotels to undergo two weeks of quarantine. The move follows reports of an outbreak of COVID-19 in the vast, lightly populated region that attracts visitors with its mountains, lakes and grasslands. An announcement from the regional government on Friday said 2,428 visitors had been placed under observation at sites in the cities of Baotou and Ordos. That came after successive reports of new cases of local infection in the region, with Inner Mongolia accounting for 19 of the 48 newly announced cases of domestic transmission announced Friday. The quarantines are typical of the strict measures China has taken to control the pandemic.