China recorded more than 2,000 covid cases on Monday, its highest in a month, as the government imposed new lockdowns and restrictions to prevent outbreaks from spreading in the capital outside the Communist Party Congress.
Although the numbers of newer cases are low by global standards, Beijing’s strict zero-covid policy means that any outbreaks will need to be eliminated immediately.
President Xi Jinping, who is expected to win a historic third term, has championed the policy, and any outbreak of primaries before Congress opens on Sunday would be hugely embarrassing for the party.
In Shanhai, tens of thousands of others were placed on lockdown Monday after several neighborhoods closed over the weekend, following the discovery of 23 new infections on Friday.
More than 2,100 families in the financial milieu were hit by a single infection on Sunday, according to a government statement.
Residents reacted with surprise when green fences were erected around the buildings, reminiscent of the city’s harsh two-month closure in the spring, which prompted lawsuits over food shortages and medical care.
As of Monday, Shanghai has nine “medium risk” neighborhoods blocked in six districts, the government said, but there will most likely be many more individual building closures that have been officially announced.
“After learning about certain cases, most people feel that it returned in April and May,” said a resident surnamed Li.
Travel chaos
Other Chinese cities have also been affected.
On Friday, the city of Yongji in the northern province of Shanxi ordered a two-day lockdown for its 3 million citizens after cases were discovered in a nearby city. Yongji recorded no new infections.
Some travelers who arrived in Beijing said they received a notification on their covid-tracking app that required them to undergo PCR tests to access public spaces, even if they arrived from case-free areas.
And some Beijing citizens who had traveled during last week’s long vacation were stranded after receiving a notification from the Covid-tracking app preventing them from boarding trains or flights back to the city.
Many left desperate calls on the Weibo page of the official helpline for Beijing citizens, but those comments were censored on Monday.
Several major tourist spots imposed closures last week, adding the city of Haikou in tropical Hainan province and Xishuangbanna in southern Yunnan province, where many angry tourists found themselves stranded at an airport after flights were canceled.
Xinjiang, in northwest China, also banned all other people from leaving the region last week after an outbreak was detected, and the local government infrequently publicly admitted the failure of the virus.
A recent report about a Shanghai tourist stranded in Xinjiang who accepted a task as a picker was later censored, while last week district officials suggested tourists “consider” performing a local task.
PromotedListen to the newest songs, in JioSaavn. com
Domestic tourism earnings and daily passenger trips during the October public holiday fell more than 55% and 58%, respectively, from pre-pandemic levels, Nomura analysts wrote in a note.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed. )
Follow:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Advertising. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .