China orders city’s 13m population to stay indoors after 52 Covid cases reported

Local lockdown for the people of Xi'an

A city in north China with a population of over 13 million people has been ordered to isolate and lockdown after an outbreak of 52 coronavirus cases was reported. According to the BBC, the city of Xi'an is now under strict containment rules, meaning that only one person per household is allowed to leave home every two days to buy essentials. https://twitter.com/WIONews/status/1473941160095719426?s=20 China as a whole has adopted a strict zero-Covid strategy ever since the pandemic began, using mass testing and lockdown to stop outbreaks; only a month ago, a Disneyland venue in Beijing locked in over 33,000 visitors after a one reported case, only releasing them once everyone had been tested. In the case of Xi'an, the city has recorded 143 infections since December 9th and residents are now unable to leave their homes or travel freely to other regions except for extenuating circumstances, which must be approved. Not only have non-essential businesses closed, but the number of passengers allowed on public transport has been significantly reduced, schools have been shut and outdoor activity has been suspended until further notice. Moreover, further reports state that long-distance stations have been closed; disease control checkpoints for testing and monitoring movement have been set up along the region's highways, and more than 85 per cent of flights coming in and out of Xi'an Xianyang International Airport have been grounded according to flight tracker, VariFlight. https://twitter.com/AnonymeCitoyen/status/1473620394661879810?s=20 It is unclear how long Xi'an's tough restrictions will last but this is not the only instance of local lockdowns; on Tuesday, 200,000 citizens in the southern city of Dongxing were also given a stay at home order after a single Covid case was detected. Elsewhere in the world, the UK broke over 100,000 daily cases on Wednesday and are now considering a fourth dose of the vaccine, as the likes of Germany and Israel rollout a second booster jab.

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