A Covid-19 lockdown for 26 million residents of Shanghai has been extended indefinitely, municipal authorities said Tuesday, writes new agency MIA.

Before a decision is made on next steps, officials will have to wait for the results of mass Covid-19 tests on Monday, examine those who have been infected and take them to quarantine facilities.

The Health Commission in Beijing reported more than 16,000 new infections on Tuesday, the highest number in the current coronavirus wave in China and the worst in two years.

More than 15,000 of the cases are asymptomatic. In Shanghai alone, 268 new Covid-19 cases and more than 13,000 infections without symptoms were reported after across-the-board testing in the past few days.

The north-eastern Chinese province of Jilin is also badly affected. Anyone who is infected in China needs to go to a hospital or a quarantine facility.

Quarantine centers have been set up in gyms and exhibition halls in Shanghai, but are already nearly at capacity. The city has seen more than 70,000 infections since the beginning of March.

On Monday, infections hit more than 10,000 a day for the first time.

Curfews in the west of the city were originally supposed to run from Friday to Tuesday, but residents are now being told to stay home.