China has locked down 13 million residents in Xian, Shaanxi Province, following a spike in COVID-19 cases, just weeks before the country hosts the Winter Olympics in Beijing, about 1,000km to the west.
Xian yesterday reported 63 locally transmitted cases, pushing the city’s total to at least 211 over the past week.
“We are not receiving any new guests, and no present guests are allowed to leave the hotel,” said a receptionist at the Hanting Hotel in Xian, who only gave her surname, Li.
Photo: Reuters
“Including the guests, we are required to take a test once every two days.” Li said. “There will be an impact on our business, and we have no idea how long it will last.”
The owner of a local bookshop said he had closed 10 days before, “fearing the worsening of the epidemic situation.”
“I am now staying at home watching television,” said the owner, who gave only his surname, Xiao.
Movement outside his compound required permission from the local neighborhood committee, he said.
“I think the situation will get better eventually, and I don’t worry at all because we have the government behind us,” Xiao said.
One person from each household would be allowed out every two days to buy household necessities, a government order said.
It took effect at midnight on Wednesday, with no word on when it might be lifted.
There was no word on whether the virus was the Omicron or Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2.
China has recorded seven Omicron cases — four in Guangzhou, two in Changsha and one in Tianjin.
China has also been dealing with a substantial outbreak in several cities in Zhejiang Province, although isolation measures there have been more narrowly targeted.
Authorities have adopted strict pandemic control measures under a policy of seeking to drive new transmissions to zero, leading to frequent lockdowns, universal masking and mass testing.
While the policy has not been entirely successful and led to massive disruptions in travel and trade, Beijing credits it with largely containing the spread of the virus.
The Xian restrictions are some of the harshest since China last year imposed a strict lockdown on more than 11 million people in and around Wuhan, after COVID-19 was first detected there in late 2019.
In Taipei, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) was asked whether Taiwanese would be evacuated from Xian by charter flights.
There would be a response, but lockdowns of cities occur often in China, Chen said.
If the Xian lockdown goes on for too long, the government would discuss the possibility of an evacuation, he said.
Additional reporting by CNA
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique