Beijing: China places all 17 million inhabitants in one of the largest cities under the locking on Sundays, because the two-fold virus cases nationally up to almost 3,400 and anxiety is installed on the resilience of the ‘zero-covid’ approach in the face of the worst outbreak in two many years year.
The South Technology Center Shenzhen told all residents to stay at home when the city struggled to eradicate the omicron flare-up associated with Hong Kong which was hit by an adjacent virus.
Locking and suspension of public transportation will take place until March 20, the Notice of the City Government said, adding that it would launch three rounds of bulk testing.
This step expanded the previous lock which was enforced in the city center business district.
Shenzhen reported 66 new infections on Sunday – a small portion of 32,430 confirmed the same day in Hong Kong.
“If prevention and control are not reinforced in a timely and determining, it can easily become a large-scale community transmission,” said Shenzhen Lin Hancheng’s health official at the briefing.
The surge in infection in China also encouraged the authorities to close the school in Shanghai and locked several northeastern cities, as 18 provinces battle groups from Omicron and Delta variants.
China, where the virus was first detected at the end of 2019, it has maintained a strict ‘zero-covid’ policy that applies to fast locking, travel restrictions, and mass testing when the cluster appears.
But the latest flares, driven by Omicron variants that are highly transplanted and a surge in asymptomatic cases, are testing the approach.
Shanghai has so far saved to live in all cities to stay at home, but individual housing compounds are locked up when Megacity increases efforts to load infection and test close contact.
Jilin – City in the center of the outbreak in the northeast – partially locked up on Saturday, while the population of Yanji, urban areas of nearly 700,000 bordering North Korea, are also limited on Sundays.
Zhang Yan, a Jilin Health Commission official, said the response from local authorities was lacking.
“There is no sufficient understanding of the characteristics of the omicron variant … and the assessment has been inaccurate,” he said to the week’s press direction.
The neighboring city of Changchun – Industrial base nine million people – locked up on Friday, while at least three other small cities have been locked up since March 1.
The Mayor of Jilin and Head of the Changchun Health Commission was dismissed from their work on Saturday, the country’s media reported, in a sign of pressure placed in local authorities to load the virus cluster.
Covid-zero?
But tension shows, with officials increasingly urging softer and more targeted steps, while economists warn the hard clampdown to hurt the economy.
Some people in Shanghai housing compounds that have been locked are told by the authorities that restrictions will last two days. Some schools, businesses, restaurants and malls have also been closed due to close contact.
Authorities also say Sunday that people cannot leave or enter Shanghai without a negative test taken in the last 48 hours.
“I have a friend I closed with a few days ago but suddenly quarantined recently,” said Shanghai Resident Serena Li told AFP.
Long lines are seen outside the hospital because people rush to be tested.
“There is no other way. We must definitely do what the government has arranged,” said an analytics worker of Zhang’s surnamed data.
Shenzhen residents told AFP on the early Sunday that they were nervous about updated outbreaks and Draconia steps that could be used to overcome them.
“This is the worst since 2020,” said a Resident of Zhang.
“The closure was too sudden, my friend woke up in the morning to find the building sealed overnight without a warning. The boss had to send his laptop to him.”