The authorities in China tightened their coronavirus quarantine rules for Beijing on Friday, saying that all residents returning from outside the capital city would be required to isolate themselves for 14 days.

The order was the latest sign that China’s leaders were still struggling to set the right balance in battling the coronavirus contagion that began a few months ago in Wuhan, 600 miles to the capital’s south, while also restarting the economy, which has been hobbled by the epidemic.

Read the latest updates on the coronavirus crisis here.

As of Friday, the coronavirus had infected more than 66,000 people, nearly all of them in mainland China — including more than 1,700 medical workers — and killed more than 1,500 people, all but three of them in mainland China.

The infection also has reached into more than two dozen countries and territories, the latest being Egypt, which on Friday became the first country on the African continent to report a confirmed case. International health officials have expressed deep concern about coronavirus infections in Africa, where medical systems are among the least equipped to handle them.