More than 2,000 Inner Mongolia tourists quarantined over COVID-19 fears

More than 2,000 tourists in Inner Mongolia in China have been told to quarantine over fears of a COVID-19 outbreak in the region. 

The regional government announced on Friday that 2,428 tourists are under quarantine for two weeks in hotels after 18 new COVID-19 cases were detected in the area, The Associated Press reported. 

The scenery in Inner Mongolia makes it a popular tourist destination, but it has been subject to stringent coronavirus restrictions in China as the country works to keep case numbers low.

China has undergone massive lockdowns, contact tracing, mass testing, mask wearing and social distancing to keep the pandemic under control, the AP noted.

Although the pandemic began in Wuhan, China, the country has been able to recover more quickly from the economic and social impacts of COVID-19 than others.

China also had a massive vaccination campaign and has reported that 76 percent of its population is fully vaccinated, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The country has recorded more than 109,000 cases and almost 5,000 deaths since the pandemic began. Experts have speculated the numbers are much higher and question if China is being forthright with their data.

Chinese authorities ordered a quarantine in the city of Lanzhou, which borders Inner Mongolia and has millions of people, the past week after cases were detected, according to the AP.

On Friday, 18 of the 48 new cases in the country were from Inner Mongolia.