East China's Jiangsu Province is seeing another COVID-19 hot spot. Yangzhou, about 100 kilometers from the provincial capital Nanjing, reported 40 new cases on Monday, almost doubling its tally since July 28th in one day.

The local government is rolling out the tried-and-tested measures to curb this increase in infections: more testing, traffic control and shuttering non-essential businesses.

On Tuesday, all of Jiangsu's 45,371 chess rooms and mahjong parlors were closed. Nineteen previously approved large-scale events scheduled for August have also been canceled or postponed. Entertainment venues and offline training institutions paused their businesses as well.

Nobody is allowed to enter or leave Yangzhou unless they can provide a negative nucleic acid test result within 48 hours.

"All buses, taxis and online ride-hailing services in the city center have been temporarily suspended. Service places within the city center, except for agricultural product markets, supermarkets, pharmacies and others related to people's livelihoods, will be temporarily closed," said Yu Ting, vice mayor of Yangzhou, during the city's press conference on epidemic prevention and control on Sunday.

Some residents in the city are worried about getting their everyday necessities and a possible increase in prices due to the COVID-19 restrictions.

"Prices are a bit higher than during previous outbreaks, up by about 50 percent. Now the main reason is the rise in logistics costs," said Wang Jun, general manager of Yangzhou Lianyi vegetable wholesale market.

The authorities say they understand people's concerns over prices. And they are trying to keep the situation under control and guarantee a stable supply for citizens.

Officials say they are keeping 9,000 to 10,000 tonnes of stock every day, which can meet the public demand for staple and non-staple food products for a week under normal circumstances.

(Special thanks to Yang Guang and Chang Dazhao for the footage.)