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In Kashgar, only essential workers, like this fruit seller, are allowed to leave their residential compounds. Photo: Qin Chen

Coronavirus: Kashgar in lockdown as health authorities analyse 4.7 million Covid-19 tests

  • Neighbourhoods cordoned off, shops closed after 100 infections confirmed in village on outskirts of city
  • Local woman says situation not as bad as in July, as people have learned to cope the restrictions
The streets of downtown Kashgar were deserted on Tuesday as the city of 700,000 people in China’s far western Xinjiang region went back into lockdown following an outbreak of Covid-19.

Across the city, stores – except for a handful of supermarkets and mobile food stations – were closed, and police officers stood guard at the gates to housing compounds, allowing only essential workers to come and go.

The lockdown was ordered after more than 100 coronavirus patients were identified on Saturday in a village in Shufu county, about 24km (15 miles) outside the city centre. The cluster is the biggest in China since more than 300 cases were linked to a wholesale wet market in Beijing in July.

Xinjiang health authorities said on Tuesday they had completed testing all 4.7 million people in Kashgar district, which comprises the city and 12 outlying regions, and the results were being evaluated.

Inside a shop selling lamb and nan bread – one of only two shops open on the block – a police officer said he and his colleagues were waiting to hear what the next steps would be.

“Who knows how long they [the shops] will remain closed. We’re all just waiting for the test results,” he said.

Small grocery shops are among the few retail outlets allowed to open. Photo: Qin Chen

In the meantime, loudspeakers outside police stations broadcast the latest information about the outbreak in Mandarin and Uygur.

“Some residents of Kashgar city might have interacted with people in Shufu county, which puts the city at a higher risk of infection,” the message said.

“To contain the outbreak as quickly as possible and get back to our lives, we hope all people can work with us.”

Uygurs account for about 86 per cent of the population of Kashgar city, with the rest being Han Chinese, according to the latest census data.

Health authorities say they are analysing the results of 4.7 million Covid-19 tests. Photo: Xinhua

A 24-year-old Uygur selling fruit from the back of an electric tricycle said he was one of only five people in his neighbourhood of about 100 families who had been given a permit to come and go freely.

The others were restaurant and shop owners, he said.

“Business is not good, because too many people have to stay at home,” he said.

A hotel manager said the outbreak had been bad for business as it had coincided with a local festival that usually attracted lots of tourists.

However, the lockdown was being handled better than the last one in July, which lasted about a month, she said, adding it was something people were learning to live with.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Kashgar in lockdown after outbreak
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