Chinese City of 13 Million People Locks Down Due to 18 Covid Cases

 

Xi’an, a Chinese city of 13 million people and capital of Shaanxi Province locked down this week for seven days due to 18 Covid cases.

China’s strict zero-Covid policy has led to endless lockdowns.

The latest lockdown in Xi’an is to avoid an explosion of Covid cases, according to city officials.

“We must race against both time and the virus… to guard against all possible risks and hidden dangers, and decisively avoid an explosion in community spreading,” City official Zhang Xuedong said.

VOA News reported:

Businesses, schools and restaurants in Xi’an will close for one week, officials said Tuesday, after the Chinese city logged a handful of COVID-19 cases as outbreaks nationwide strain Beijing’s zero-tolerance virus approach.

China is the last major economy wedded to a zero-COVID strategy, deploying snap lockdowns, quarantines and travel curbs in a bid to weed out new infections.

Xi’an — a historic city of 13 million that endured a month-long lockdown at the end of last year — has reported 18 cases since Saturday in a cluster driven by the fast-spreading Omicron variant, according to official notices.

City official Zhang Xuedong said at a Tuesday press conference that Xi’an would implement “seven-day temporary control measures” that would “allow society to quieten down as much as possible, reduce mobility… and cut the risk of cross-infection”.

Public entertainment venues including pubs, internet cafes and karaoke bars would shut their doors from midnight on Wednesday, the city government said in a notice.

In March China locked down 51 million people amid a Covid outbreak in the northeastern province of Jilin and the southern cities of Shenzhen and Dongguan.