In the centrally located province of Henan, 64 locally transmitted infections with symptoms of the disease were reported on Thursday.
(Photo: via REUTERS)
Beijing In China, a few weeks before the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing and the main travel season for the New Year celebrations, the authorities are pushing their zero-covid strategy with further rigid restrictions in view of rising corona numbers.
In the central province of Henan, 64 locally transmitted infections with symptoms of the disease were reported on Thursday, after only four on Wednesday. Despite the very low number compared to other countries, several large cities immediately imposed strict protective measures that restricted travel and economic life.
The city of Xuchang restricted the freedom of movement of the citizens to the minimum and ordered mass tests for the more than four million inhabitants. The Gushi district, with a population of one million, was effectively cordoned off after a symptomatic and an asymptomatic case of infection had been identified. In the cities of Hebi and Kaifeng, cultural and entertainment facilities were closed even without evidence of a new infection.
In the northwest Chinese city of Xian, which has been sealed off for more than two weeks, 63 new local symptomatic infections have been reported. That is almost twice as many as the 35 cases from the previous day, but significantly fewer than the daily number of cases in the last week of December.
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The strict measures there increasingly restricted the residents’ access to the most important items of everyday life as well as medical treatments in hospitals. Posts about a pregnant woman who lost her baby after waiting bleeding outside a local hospital caused outrage on social media. According to the state media, the general manager of the hospital has been suspended and some other employees have been relieved of their duties.
Despite fewer than 100 new infections: Xi’an remains in strict lockdown
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