China: Seven day Covid lockdown in Xi’an

Asia, China, Coronavirus, Health, Infection, Lockdown, Omicron, Testing, Transmission

The Chinese city of Xi’an has gone into a seven-day lockdown amid spiralling Covid-19 cases centred on a large trading market.

“For seven days starting on Wednesday, July 6, Xi’an will suspend on-site dining at restaurants and all group gatherings, including religious activities. Entertainment, cultural and sports venues will close for a week, including internet cafes, KTVs, bars, chess rooms, cinemas, gyms, libraries and museums.

Kindergartens, primary and middle schools will start the summer vacation ahead of schedule. People with a green health code can work from offices.

According to the local health commission, Xi’an has reported a total of 18 local COVID-19 cases from Saturday to Monday, three of which were detected in community screening.”

In its latest Covid numbers update, China said that there were 69 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, and 266 new local asymptomatic cases.

Global Times report

 

This isn’t the first lockdown in Xi’an. A previous lockdown ended on 24th January 2022:

“One of China’s longest coronavirus lockdowns since the start of the pandemic came to an end on Monday as authorities announced the lifting of most restrictions in the northern megacity of Xi’an. The historic city’s 13 million residents had been confined to their homes since December 22 after the discovery of a Covid-19 cluster that grew to over 2,100 cases — China’s largest local outbreak in months.”

France24 report

 

Another partial lockdown was introduced in Xi’an as recently as April 2022:

“The northwestern Chinese city of Xian said on Friday it will temporarily impose a partial lockdown to reduce its 13 million residents’ movement, after reporting dozens of COVID-19 infections this month, as China fights a record wave of cases.”

Reuters report

 

 

China: 50 SARS-CoV-2 sequences uploaded to Gisaid

 

 

Image by karl-ferdinand from Pixabay

** This post was originally published on July 5, 2022 **