The increase in coronavirus infections in the Chinese city of Xian has prompted the government to impose a “lockdown” on its 13 million residents on Thursday (23).
The move comes weeks before the country hosts the Winter Olympics in Beijing, about 1,000 kilometers northeast of Xian.
The daily count of symptomatic infections in the city, located in the northwest of the country, has increased for six consecutive days since 17 December.
This brings the count of local cases to more than 200 for the period 9-22 December, lower than many outbreaks outside China. No infections by the new omicron variant were found in Xian, however.
From this farm onwards, each family can only send one person to shop every other day, while others cannot leave the house unless they have essential jobs.
The city has suspended long-distance bus services and banned out-of-town travel by taxis and rental cars, stationing police at highway exits to deter travel that authorities deem unnecessary.
Those wishing to leave must have a negative test before departure and obtain authorization from employers or community authorities.
Video footage broadcast live by traffic police on social media showed that some stretches of highway in Xian were nearly deserted.
The city began mass testing residents.
A student at a city-based university said she queued outdoors for about an hour while it snowed in order to take a test.
“The indoor gym is not big enough and the demand for exams is huge,” said the student, who only provided her last name, Zhu. “Temporary locations have been installed on an outdoor sports field.”
On Wednesday, China confirmed 71 symptomatic cases of Covid-19, 63 of them in Xian, the National Health Commission reported.
Known for its zero Covid policy, China had 100,644 confirmed cases as of Wednesday (22), both locally and among international travelers. The death toll across the country is 4,636.
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