China Covid-19: Xi’an, city of 13 million people, goes into lockdown imn response to cluster
China Covid-19: Xi’an, city of 13 million people, goes into lockdown imn response to cluster
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Officials believe the cluster is linked to an inbound flight from Pakistan on December 4, where at least six passengers were found to have the Delta variant. So far, there have been no reported cases of the Omicron variant in Xi’an.
Authorities moved swiftly, suspending schools and conducting mass testing for the entire city. Cases have continued to climb, however. Since December 9, the city has recorded a total of 206 cases. On Wednesday, authorities recorded 63 new locally transmitted cases, Xi’an’s highest daily figure this month.
Xi’an is now designated a “controlled area,” China’s second-highest category of lockdown — meaning residents are banned from leaving their homes except for urgent cases like medical emergencies. Each household is only allowed to send one designated person out of the house to buy groceries every two days.
Schools, public facilities and transport systems are also closed except for essential service providers like hospitals and supermarkets, according to the local government’s announcement.
Xi’an is one level away from the highest lockdown category of “sealed area,” in which residents are completely banned from leaving their homes, and groceries are delivered to their door.
This is only the fourth time a major Chinese city has been placed under the “controlled area” lockdown. Though previous outbreaks have seen similar restrictions, they are typically only applied to specific areas where infections are most prevalent — not an entire city.
The emergence of yet another outbreak has raised questions over the long-term viability of China’s ambitious “zero-Covid” policy, which aims to eliminate the virus completely within the country’s borders.
Despite administering more than 2.7 billion doses of its homegrown vaccines, authorities have struggled with a number of fast-spreading outbreaks.
In the past week alone, in addition to Xi’an, cases have also been recorded in Henan province, Zhejiang province, Guangdong province, Guangxi autonomous region, and the cities of Beijing and Tianjin.
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Source :CNN