Newark and its neighboring cities of East Orange, Orange and Irvington will be on lockdown all week -- aggressively stepping up their enforcement of New Jersey's stay-at-home order.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka says residents found traveling between the cities for no reason will be issued a summons and referred to the prosecutor's office.

"We will holding people in our community accountable for violating this order and making people in our community unsafe," he said. 

Newark alone has issued 268 summonses and ordered 20 non-essential businesses to shut down since Governor Phil Murphy issued a stay-at-home order last month.

Essex County has more than 2,200 confirmed COVID-19 cases. That's the second highest number in New Jersey after Bergen County -- the epicenter of the state's outbreak.