China has put 13 million citizens in Xi’an at home after the outbreak in the city. Streets were emptied and people had to queue long at COVID-19 testing sites.
In China, even just one case of COVID-19 could prompt strict stay-at-home orders and travel bans.
Xi’an resident Wei told AFP the lockdown had left him feeling ‘miserable’, as a series of outbreaks had prevented him from seeing her husband, who lives in Beijing, for months.
“Beijing had an outbreak some time ago, and now that Xi’an has an outbreak, it’s just been alternating,” Wei said.
The lockdown comes at a bad time for graduate school applicants, who are now struggling to ensure they can take the national graduate entrance exam next weekend.
“It’s been a week of anxiety,” said one test candidate who declined to be named.
“The exam center requires two nucleic acid certificates from the last 48 hours. But now the nearest test center only provides electronic results, the nearest hospital is closed, and the exam center will not answer the phone,” he added.
With the road blocked, he had no idea how he would reach the test site.
Local media showed residents flocking to the market to buy supplies when news of the impending lockdown broke on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, China’s state-run Global Times warned Xi’an was facing a “major test of his governance capabilities”.
Many local officials across China have been sacked after being judged to have handled the outbreak poorly, prompting local governments to maintain strict rules.
In Xi’an, anxious tourist site operators have asked visitors to show negative COVID-19 tests to enter prior to the outbreak, with train arrivals needing to prove they are COVID-19 negative.
The country where COVID-19 was first detected has lowered the infection rate by implementing various policies to prevent transmission such as cutting off transportation, isolating local residents, and testing millions of people.
Watch the video ‘China Lockdown 13 million Xi’an residents due to spike in Covid-19 cases’:
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