China has imposed restrictions on travel, shut down scenic spots and canceled performances in cities that have medium- and high-risk areas, witnessing a surge in COVID-19 cases.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism on Tuesday issued an urgent notice on comprehensively strengthening the epidemic prevention and control to "resolutely block the route of transmission."

On Wednesday morning, a total of 144 medium- and high-risk areas in 17 provinces were reported to have local cases, including asymptomatic infected persons, the highest number since the country normalized the epidemic prevention and control last year.

The authorities of east China's Jiangsu Province have suspended all domestic flights and taxi services, including online ride-hailing services in and out of Nanjing and Yangzhou. In addition, Zhangjiajie in central China's Hunan Province temporarily banned residents and tourists from leaving the city since Tuesday.

The national capital Beijing, which saw several local cases recently, suspended the sale of train tickets from 23 cities (prefecture) that have medium- and high-risk areas.

The rising COVID-19 cases have cast a shadow over the summer travel season. Travel agencies have to suspend travel groups to medium- and high-risk areas.

All scenic spots in Zhangjiajie have been shut down, and many in Nanjing, Zhuzhou in Hunan Province, and Zhengzhou in central China's Henan Province were closed.

Beijing and Wuhan have limited the number of visitors to the national A-level scenic spots to varying degrees. The Palace Museum, for example, reduced its daily attendance to 60 percent of its regular capacity.

Indoor entertainment venues have been hit hard by the rising cases of COVID-19. Over a dozen concerts in Nanjing, Wuhan and Chengdu were postponed or canceled.

Jiangsu Province shut down all the cards rooms and other entertainment venues. At the same time, Harbin in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province closed its cinemas, theaters and fitness rooms.