This Chinese city found a covid-19 outbreak. Its 13 million residents are now in lockdown

Hong Kong (CNN) – On Tuesday, the city of Xi’an, in central China, registered 52 new cases of covid-19. By Wednesday, authorities had imposed strict confinement measures on its roughly 13 million residents.

The sweeping restrictions, which prevent people from leaving their homes, come as the country gears up for the Lunar New Year travel season, quickly followed by the 2022 Winter Olympics, which will kick off in the capital Beijing, the February 4th.

Xi’an, an ancient city known internationally as the home of 2,000-year-old terracotta warrior sculptures, detected its first case related to the latest outbreak in a quarantine hotel on December 9. The virus is believed to have spread to the community through a hotel worker infected with the virus.

Authorities believe the outbreak is linked to an inbound flight from Pakistan on December 4, where at least six passengers were found to have the delta variant. So far, no cases of the omicron variant have been reported in Xi’an.

Authorities acted quickly, suspending classes and conducting massive tests throughout the city. However, the cases have continued to increase. Since December 9, the city has registered a total of 206 cases. On Wednesday, authorities recorded 63 new locally transmitted cases, the highest daily figure in Xi’an this month.

By noon on Wednesday, more than 30,000 people believed to have come into contact with a confirmed case were quarantined, according to the state-run China Daily newspaper. That same day, the city imposed a strict lockdown on all residents until further notice.

Xi’an is now designated as a “controlled area”, China’s second highest category of confinement. This means that residents are prohibited from leaving their homes, except in urgent cases such as medical emergencies. Each household can only send one designated person out of the home to buy food every other day.

After the new restrictions were announced, residents rushed to supermarkets to stock up on supplies before the lockdown went into effect at midnight, according to the state tabloid Global Times.

Schools, public facilities and transportation systems are also closed, except for essential service providers like hospitals and supermarkets, according to the local government announcement.

Xi’an is one step away from the highest confinement category of “sealed area”, in which residents are completely prohibited from leaving their homes and food is delivered to the door.

A resident gets tested for COVID-19 in Xi’an, China, on December 23.

This is only the fourth time that a major Chinese city has been placed under “controlled area” confinement. Although previous outbreaks have had similar restrictions, they generally only apply to specific areas where infections are most prevalent, not to an entire city.

The emergence of another outbreak has raised questions about the long-term viability of China’s ambitious “zero covid” policy, which aims to eliminate the virus entirely within the country’s borders.

Despite administering more than 2.7 billion doses of its homegrown vaccines, authorities have struggled with a series of rapidly spreading outbreaks.

The outbreak in Xi’an follows another driven by the delta variant in the summer, an outbreak in September in Fujian province, an outbreak in October that spread to more than half the country, and then several outbreaks in Inner Mongolia. in November, they have spread to Zhejiang province in recent weeks.

In the last week alone, in addition to Xi’an, cases have also been reported in Henan Province, Zhejiang Province, Guangdong Province, Guangxi Autonomous Region, and the cities of Beijing and Tianjin.