Thirty-seven new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases were reported on Sunday in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, health authorities in the region said on Monday.

As of Sunday, the total rose to 44 cases, of which 43 were confirmed mainly in Baise's Debao county.

The new round of COVID in Guangxi broke out on Friday when a man who drove from Shenzhen to Debao county for the Spring Festival holiday tested positive.

The city upgraded its epidemic prevention and control measures on Monday morning, including implementing local travel restrictions and launching mass testing. All residents of the city were asked to quarantine at home and not leave the city unless necessary.

More than 207,000 residents in the city have been sampled.

As of Sunday at noon, 98 people had tested positive for the virus during a citywide testing campaign, with 87 yet to be confirmed, the authorities said.

An effort to track the infections is underway.