One of China’s largest cities maintains strict lowdown rules that prevent residents from going outside to buy food, leading them to go hungry.
According to NY Post, on Monday, the city of Xi’an informed its 13 million inhabitants they could only leave their homes when asked to participate in a Covid test, or in case of an emergency.
Prior, every two days, one household member was allowed to go out to purchase food before the severe measures were introduced.
This report comes at the same time as a series of studies have confirmed Omicron to be milder than other strains, with the first UK official report showing hospitalizations are 50 to 70 percent lower than with Delta.
Booster COVID vaccines provide the best protection against Omicron, according to health officials.
With Sun’s Jabs Army campaign, extra vaccines are getting into Brits’ hands in time to prevent any new restrictions.
Also, people in the UK are getting vaccinated as fast as they can, thanks to the UK’s drive to get them injected.
Hospital admissions in COVID-19 declined by more than 50 percent compared to the same period last year.
The number of coronavirus admissions in the UK dropped to 8,474 on Monday – a large decline from the 19,277 recorded on the same day in 2020.
As a result of these positive figures, Boris Johnson has ruled out the possibility of a lockdown for New Year’s Eve in England.
Also, thanks to the UK’s booster jab campaign, there may not be any new restrictions in 2022.
Xi’an later disclosed that when the testing is completed and if the results are negative, people in “low risk” areas will be able to purchase essential goods.
China continued its zero COVID policy on Tuesday as 175 new cases were recorded in Xi’an.
In nearby Yan’an – 185 miles away from Xi’an – businesses were ordered closed on Tuesday, and hundreds of thousands of people were asked to remain indoors.
The Cry for Food
Residents of Xi’an had taken to social media to ask their neighbors for supplies, saying they were “starving.”
“I’m about to be starved to death,” one user wrote on Weibo, China’s version of Facebook.
“There’s no food, my housing compound won’t let me out, and I’m about to run out of instant noodles… please help!”
“I don’t want to hear any more about how everything is fine,” another said.
“So what if supplies are so abundant – they’re useless if you don’t actually give them to people.”
COVID cases are on the rise in Xi’an due to the Delta variant, which is thought to have been brought back by a trip to Pakistan a week ago.
Last Thursday, Xi’an introduced lockdown measures after mass tests revealed a case escaped quarantine, spreading the disease.
This has been China’s largest outbreak of COVID since Wuhan, with 810 cases reported in Xi’an so far this month.
China’s lockdown on the population is its largest since Wuhan’s in early 2020 when 11 million people were impacted.
Workers from the city disinfected public areas on Sunday, with residents were warned not to touch anything until the chemicals dispersed.
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Testing on a Large Scale
Based on the results so far, cases are spread across the city and among all age groups, raising concerns that the number of cases is much higher than originally thought.
In addition, all vehicles were prohibited on Monday except for those used for controlling the virus or those working towards saving people’s lives at risk.
If you break the rules, you will spend 10 days in police custody and be fined 500 yuan ($78).
Those who do not follow the rules during mass testing can be detained and fined as well.
Nonetheless, as Hong Kong University’s virologist, Dongyan Jin pointed out, mass disinfection of public places isn’t necessary given the lack of people outside, which makes it unlikely that people will contract COVID-19 from outdoor surfaces.
According to Jin: “This is shooting mosquitoes with cannon,” although Jin added he believed disinfection of indoor surfaces, especially in places visited by infected people, was necessary.”
The virus has also been detected in the provinces of Guangxi, Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Sichuan, as well as Shaanxi, where Xi’an is located.
The Omicron variant has been reported in China, which is an infection that is considered much more infectious than Delta. However, all of the cases are associated with travel, and there have not yet been any domestic outbreaks.
It is expected that China will continue its “zero COVID” policy at least through the Winter Olympics, scheduled to take place in Beijing in February.
