Ahead of Olympics, China plunges city of 13 million people into lockdown amid latest COVID surge
By Team Newsable | First Published Dec 23, 2021, 7:29 PM ISTOne person from each household will be allowed out every two days to buy household necessities, a government order said.
In a bid to control the latest surge in the coronavirus outbreak and the Omicron variant, China plunged a city of 13 million people into lockdown on Thursday as the country doubled down on its “zero tolerance” policy just weeks before it is set to host the Winter Olympics.
The citywide restrictions in Xi'an, the capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, come just weeks before the country is set to host the winter Olympics in Beijing, which is around 1,200 km from Xi'an.
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One person from each household will be allowed out every two days to buy household necessities, a government order said. Other family members were required to stay at home, although the rule was not being rigorously enforced, according to social media posts. People who happened to be staying in hotels became stuck.
There was no official word on whether the latest virus outbreak was the newly surging Omicron variant or the far more common delta. China has recorded just seven omicron cases, four in the southern manufacturing center of Guangzhou, two in the southern city of Changsha and one in the northern port of Tianjin.
China has also been dealing with a substantial outbreak in several cities in the eastern province of Zhejiang near Shanghai, although isolation measures there have been more narrowly targeted.
“A total of 127 people tested positive for the virus during the second round of citywide nucleic acid testing, showed data released Thursday by the city's epidemic prevention and control headquarters,” Chinese state-controlled news agency Xinhua said in a report.
All communities, villages and working units have been closed off since Thursday, and citizens have been asked not to leave the city unless very necessary, according to the report.
The report further added, long distance passenger transport lines have been suspended in the city, except freight vehicles transporting epidemic prevention materials and daily necessities.
Taxis and online ride-hailing vehicles are forbidden from entering medium- and high-risk areas or traveling outside the city, the report said.
On the one hand, there is a tremendous amount of national pride and investment riding on the Olympics, and few would want a cancellation, postponement or dramatic reimagining at this late stage. On the other hand, Chinese authorities have adopted draconian measures throughout the pandemic under their policy of seeking to stamp out every last case — and it’s hard to see how welcoming so many people from abroad will square with that strategy.
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