After hiding contact with Covid-19 victims and flouting quarantine, a Chinese man was fined 200,000 yuan (S$42,500) and handed a two-year suspended prison sentence, as the country tightens restrictions in an arduous struggle to eradicate the virus.

According to local media sources, the guy, surnamed Cao, failed to reveal that he stayed at a hotel with Covid patients and that he experienced a fever and other Covid-related symptoms during a business trip to Vietnam.

After returning home in April, he also disobeyed quarantine regulations by sneaking out of his hotel room to see friends.

A court in the south-western province of Guangxi, which borders Vietnam, handed down the fine and prison sentence, which was suspended for three years.