Chinese border city taking no chances as it shuts down over one mild Covid-19 case
- Coastal city of Dongxing, on the frontier with Vietnam, announces immediate limits on people’s movement as infection is found via routine test
- Some previous outbreaks near China’s borders have been blamed on people arriving from neighbouring countries
Police in hazmat suits in Dongxing, on the coast in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, on Tuesday began blocking all inbound and outbound traffic except medical deliveries, while buses, taxis and shuttles inside the city were suspended, the local government said. It came after an infection was reported on Monday night.
China has pursued a zero-Covid strategy under which it tries to stamp out infections whenever they occur through limits on movement and daily mass testing. This “whack-a-mole” approach has minimised the spread of cases, but local outbreaks have continued to emerge.
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Effective from 8am on Wednesday, Dongxing “will impose isolation at home, and the end of the measure will depend on the epidemic situation”, a notice said, adding that “schools and other vocational institutions will close and public transport will be suspended”.
“Customs and immigration at Dongxing ports will be out of service,” it said. “Except for supermarkets, farmers’ markets, hospitals and pharmacies, all businesses must close.”
The notice said that going out without permission would be punished, but did not specify the penalty.
“We call on everyone to respond to the government’s call, discipline yourself to perform your legal duties and fully cooperate and support Covid-19 testing and other infection control measures,” Sun Zhike, Dongxing’s health director, said on Tuesday evening.
The city has set up 39 stations to collect Covid-19 test samples. As of 4pm on Tuesday, more than 43,000 people had provided samples, with their results yet to be released.
Nationally on Wednesday, China reported 57 new local symptomatic cases, with 53 coming from Shaanxi province. The National Health Commission also reported 39 new imported cases, of which 20 were symptomatic.
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Twenty-seven neighbourhoods in Xian were newly classified as medium-risk areas, meaning that security guards were roaming residential communities to prevent people from leaving their homes.
The Xian government said buses had been limited to half capacity and would not stop in areas that were locked down, while four of the city’s seven coach stations were closed and coach services to Xian from other cities in Shaanxi were suspended. Police set up testing stations at hundreds of expressway toll booths across the province.
Activities involving crowds, such as square dancing, would be suspended and civil servants would work from home, said Zhang Fenghu, the deputy secretary of the Xian government.
“After a comprehensive assessment, the epidemic control situation is still dire, especially with positive cases found outside areas under lockdown,” he said. “There is already community transmission.”
People were encouraged not to leave the city unless absolutely necessary, he said.
Xian’s recent case toll has been its highest in many months. Even when Covid-19 infections raged in many parts of the country in August and October, the city recorded only single-digit local cases each day.
Infections traced to the city have spread to the cities of Yanan and Xianyang in Shaanxi, Dongguan in the southern Guangdong province, and Beijing.
