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
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