The Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou, in the south of the country, determined this Monday (21) a five-day lockdown in Baiyun, its most populous district, where about 3.7 million people live. The capital Beijing, for its part, warned that the country is facing its toughest test yet in controlling the coronavirus pandemic.
China is battling simultaneous outbreaks of Covid-19 from Zhengzhou in central Henan Province to Chongqing in the southwest. There were 26,824 new cases of the disease registered this Sunday (20), a figure that is close to the daily peak of infections in the country, recorded in April.
Two deaths were also recorded in Beijing, compared to one on Saturday – the first official in China since at least the end of May.
Most of the infections in Guangzhou, an important manufacturing hub, are due, according to the South China Morning Post, to a variant discovered in Shanghai in July, omicron BA.5.2 —different from the strain that has been causing increases in cases in the US , in Europe and Brazil, BQ.1.
In addition to traffic restrictions, Guangzhou City Hall suspended night service at restaurants and closed nightclubs and theaters in Baiyun, the city’s main shopping district.
In other regions, authorities ordered the closure of businesses and schools in the districts where cases were detected and tightened rules for moving between cities, as infections rose in several districts.
Beijing reported 962 new cases on Sunday and 316 more in the first 3 pm on Monday. Capital officials then announced that people arriving in the capital from other parts of the country would need to undergo three days of testing before being allowed to leave their homes or accommodation.
“The city is facing the most complex and severe prevention and control situation,” Liu Xiaofeng, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a press release.
Residents of the capital’s Chaoyang district, home to 3.5 million people, as well as embassies and office complexes, were urged to stay at home, and schools had to teach online.
The rise in the number of infections tests China’s resilience in maintaining the newly announced adjustments to the Covid-zero policy. The new guideline urges cities to be more objective in restricting measures and avoid widespread lockdowns or testing, which have strangled the economy and frustrated residents in different parts — leading to demonstrations of opposition to the regime.
Several Chinese cities last week began waiving routine coronavirus testing, including Shijiazhuang, which has been speculated as a possible trial balloon for the relaxation of the national Covid-zero policy.
Late on Sunday, however, the municipality announced that it would carry out mass testing in six of its eight districts within the next five days, after 641 cases of the disease were detected.
The People’s Daily newspaper, linked to the Communist Party of China, published a text on Monday reiterating the need to identify infections earlier, but to avoid an approach that “serves all cases”.
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