The Chinese city of Chengdu, with about 20 million inhabitants and located in the southwest of the country, will be under confinement from Thursday with the aim of curbing a new outbreak of covid-19.
China is the last major economy in the world that continues to apply the so-called “zero covid” strategy to eradicate the virus based on restrictions on international travel, quarantines, massive tests and severe confinements.
Chengdu authorities released an official document urging residents to “stay home in principle” from 6 p.m. Thursday to fight a new wave of infections.
Each household will be able to send one person a day to buy groceries and essential goods, but they must have previously carried out a test with a negative result in the last 24 hours, the document details.
Between Thursday and Sunday, all residents will be tested and authorities have asked them not to leave the city unless “absolutely necessary.”
“The current state of epidemic control is abnormal, complex and grim,” the document states. The measures, according to the letter, aim to “decisively stop the spread of the outbreak and guarantee the health of all citizens.”
Chengdu recorded 157 new local infections on Thursday, of which 51 had no symptoms, the city government said in a separate statement.
Elsewhere in China, children in at least 10 cities and provinces are facing disruption to the new academic year as pandemic controls force schools to adopt measures such as online learning, according to a report published on Monday. Thursday by a media outlet affiliated with the state-run Diario del Pueblo.
In Shenzhen (south), a large border metropolis of Hong Kong, the authorities announced Thursday night the establishment of new restrictions in the Nanshan district, home to many local technology giants such as Tencent (video games, internet) and ZTE (telecommunications).
Entertainment venues such as bars, cinemas and karaoke bars have been ordered to close, district authorities said in a statement.
Residents of Nanshan are also required to submit a negative PCR test of less than 24 hours to enter their residential compounds.
