China is the final large economy to be devoted to a zero-Covid approach, employing travel restrictions, quarantines, and temporary lockdowns in an effort to eradicate new infections.
According to official records, Xi’an, a 13 million-strong historic city that had a month-long lockdown at the end of last year, has reported 18 cases since Saturday in a cluster brought on by the fast-moving Omicron variety.
Xi’an will implement seven-day interim control measures, according to city official ZhangXuedong, in order to “enable society to quiet down as much as possible, decrease mobility… and cut the risk of cross-infection.”
To protect against all potential threats and resolutely prevent an explosion in community spreading, Zhang added, “We must race against both time and the virus.”
The city government announced in a notice that all public entertainment establishments, including bars, internet cafes, and karaoke bars, will close at midnight on Wednesday.
Restaurants will no longer be able to serve diners inside, although they may still provide takeout, according to the statement.
Schools will break up for the summer early, and colleges will lock down their campuses.
The way the city government handled the lockdown, which was marred by problems with the food supply and tragedies related to people being denied access to hospitals, drew criticism.
On social media on Tuesday, some inhabitants of the tourist city expressed their outrage about the closures.
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The NHC estimates that over 300 cases detected in the province on Monday were 90 percent asymptomatic. So far, the outbreak has been associated with more than 1,000 cases.
Separately, Shanghai city officials have resumed mandatory Covid testing in the majority of the city’s districts after “successfully recording several local positive cases” since Sunday.
Many of the 25 million residents of the commercial metropolis will have to take two tests between Tuesday and Thursday, according to the authorities.
A strenuous, two-month statewide lockdown was officially lifted at the end of May, but some areas of Shanghai have continued to be under regional lockdowns and testing drives due to sporadic new cases being discovered.
