CNA – Chinese cities from Wuhan in central China to Xining in the northwest are doubling down on COVID-19 curbs, sealing up buildings, locking down districts and throwing millions into distress in a scramble to halt widening outbreaks.
China yesterday reported a third straight day of more than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases nationwide, a modest tally compared with the tens of thousands per day that sent Shanghai into a full-blown lockdown earlier this year but enough to trigger more curbs and restrictions across the country.
China’s coronavirus case load has remained small by global standards, but its ultra-strict and disruptive containment measures this year against the highly transmissible Omicron variant have weighed heavily on the world’s second-largest economy and rattled financial markets.
Guangzhou, China’s fourth-biggest city by economic output and the provincial capital of Guangdong, yesterday sealed up more streets and neighbourhoods and kept people in their homes as new areas were deemed high-risk in a COVID-19 resurgence that persisted into its fourth week.
Wuhan, site of the world’s first COVID-19 outbreak in late 2019, reported around 20 to 25 new infections a day this week.
Nevertheless, local authorities ordered more than 800,000 people in one district to stay at home until October 30.
“It’s already the third year and things are still like this,” Wuhan resident Joy Dai, who works in the tourism sector, told Reuters.
“It affects me both mentally and physically… But I’m helpless in all of this so I’ve learnt to accept it.”
Wuhan Union Hospital suspended outpatient services after a member of staff at a canteen tested positive, the hospital said in a release. Universities in Wuhan also reverted to online teaching.
In Xining, the capital of Qinghai province, social media posts told of food shortages and price inflation for essential goods as health authorities in the city of 2.5 million people raced to contain a COVID-19 rebound following the week-long National Day holiday in early October.
