According to Reuters, Baotou city authorities cut off the village in the Inner Mongolia region after a resident died.

The city’s health commission reported the death Thursday, saying the patient died of circulatory system failure, and was confirmed to have “intestinal-type plague”.

Authorities warned of “a human plague epidemic spreading in the city” as they made the announcement.

It hasn’t been reported where the patient contracted the plague.

Nine close contacts and 26 secondary contacts of the patient have also been quarantined but have so far tested negative and have taken preventive medication.

The Damao Banner district has also been placed on the second-lowest alert level for the rest of the year (there are four levels to the alert system).

China recorded 26 cases of plague between 2009 and 2018, with 11 deaths.

The plague was the deadliest pandemic in human history but is now easily treatable with antibiotics if it’s detected soon enough.

In July, a person caught but survived the plague in Bayannur, another city in Inner Mongolia, leading to the issuing of a level three alert and the closure of several tourist spots according to CNN.