Extraordinary measures must be taken to contain the COVID-19 outbreaks in Hebei province as soon as possible, China's health minister said on Tuesday.

Ma Xiaowei, minister of the National Health Commission, said at a meeting during an inspection tour in the province that authorities there should make concrete epidemic control and prevention efforts, including epidemic monitoring and disease screening, to identify, report, isolate and treat cases as early as possible.

Ma urged top officials in Hebei to take resolute measures to contain the epidemic and put strict controls on the movement of people in Shijiazhuang, the provincial capital, and Xingtai city. People in medium and high-risk areas must be barred from leaving their areas, while those in low-risk areas in the two cities should be permitted to leave if they can show certificates proving they have tested negative for the novel coronavirus, Ma said, according to a report by Hebei Daily.

He also urged massive nucleic acid testing covering the entire population in areas where outbreaks have been reported to be completed within three to four days as a crucial means to control the epidemic, and that stepped up efforts are needed to trace the origin of the outbreaks.

Efforts should also focus on the contact tracing, isolation and treatment of COVID-19 patients to ensure all that need to hospitalized are admitted, Ma said.

The Chinese mainland reported 23 new domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, including 20 in Hebei, according to the National Health Commission. Fourteen new domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases were reported in Hebei on Monday, in addition to 30 asymptomatic cases. The province declared that it was entering into a state of war on Tuesday.

Feng Zijian, deputy director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told China Central Television on Tuesday that existing evidence shows that the outbreaks in Hebei was also caused by an imported case, likely from Europe.

The outbreaks in Shijiazhuang and Xingtai are closely linked, and the virus had been being transmitted in both places for a period of time without been detected, he said.