Covid-19: after a rebound in contamination, China imposes new restrictions

The numbers for the epidemic may seem paltry compared to those in other parts of the world, but with a hundred days before the Winter Olympics in Beijing, China is unwilling to take any risks. The authorities imposed lockdowns on some of the inhabitants of the north of the country on Monday due to a rebound in Covid-19 cases: 39 new patients on Monday, October 25, the majority of which are linked to the movements of a group of tourists contaminated.

A recent outbreak in Inner Mongolia, in the north of the country, has been responsible for more than 100 cases since last week. Redoubling its vigilance, the government has remained faithful to its policy of “zero tolerance” towards the virus, with a rapid reaction: local restrictions and mass screening campaigns in the affected regions, namely eleven provinces in the north of the country. countries where new cases of Covid-19 have been mainly recorded.

In Ejin, Inner Mongolia, around 35,000 people were placed in a two-week lockdown as of Monday. In Gansu, in the northwest of the country, buses and taxis have been suspended in Lanzhou, the provincial capital, while tourist sites have been closed.

The capital is also no exception to this turn of the sanitary screw. On Sunday, the authorities had already announced the suspension of organized trips to five areas where cases of Covid-19 have been reported, including Beijing. In the city, a marathon that was to bring together some 30,000 runners has been postponed “so as to prevent the risk of epidemic transmission” without a new date being for daylight saving time, organizers said.

Marathon also canceled last Sunday at the last moment and for the same reasons in Wuhan, a city in the center of the country which was the starting point of the Covid-19 epidemic before its worldwide spread. The event was to have 26,000 participants.

Residents of the capital were also encouraged to avoid travel “non-essential” out of town as well as large-scale gatherings. In addition, any person arriving in Beijing, from a region where cases of Covid-19 are identified, must also present a negative test, said the authorities.

The government intends to strictly enforce this new protocol: the police announced Monday the opening of three investigations for alleged non-compliance with health rules.

China announced on Sunday that it had vaccinated three quarters of its population against the coronavirus: about 1.068 billion Chinese have received a complete vaccination schedule as of Saturday, out of a population of 1.412 billion people, detailed the spokesperson of the National Health Commission. In all, 2.245 billion doses of the vaccine were administered, according to official data.