Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The Chinese government is currently implementing a lockdown for the city of Xi’an. More than 13 million have been ordered to stay at home since last week as authorities tried to fight the Covid-19 outbreak.
Some residents locked up in the Chinese city of Xi’an say they don’t have enough food, even as officials insist there are adequate supplies.
In recent days, people have been using the social media platform Weibo to ask for help getting food and other necessities. Many said they had not received their government supplies.
“I heard other districts are gradually getting supplies, but I’m getting nothing. My complex forbids us from going out. I ordered some groceries online four days ago, but no sign of getting them at all. I haven’t been able to get them.” any vegetable for days,” read one comment posted on Friday.
“The allocation is very uneven. The district where I live has nothing. We were told to group and order together. The prices are also very high,” another person said.
One video this week has gone viral, showing residents in the Xi’an compound arguing fiercely with police over food shortages.
A man notified authorities that his family had run out of food, and a woman was heard saying.
“We have been locked up for 13 days. The basic life of the residents is unsustainable. We queued for three to four hours [untuk beli sayur]. But they don’t allow it to be sold anymore.”
The lockdown in the northern city of Xi’an has entered its ninth day. The city’s outbreak is the worst China has seen in months amid its zero-Covid strategy.
Initially, the restriction allowed one person per household to go out every other day to buy food and other basic necessities.
But the rules were tightened on Monday – banning residents from leaving at all except for Covid-19 tests.
State-owned newspaper Global Times said that in some places, food was delivered to the entrances of housing complexes but there were not enough volunteers to deliver supplies to residents’ doorsteps. There is also a shortage of city-wide deliveries as many drivers are self-quarantining.
Authorities had acknowledged on Wednesday that low staff attendance and difficulties in distribution had caused problems providing essential supplies.
But on Thursday, the country’s commerce ministry told reporters that Xi’an residents had sufficient access to essential supplies, the AFP news agency reported.
The state television outlet also broadcast images of workers in hazmat suits sorting essential foodstuffs such as eggs, meat and vegetables into plastic bags, before delivering them door-to-door to residents.
“We got free basic food from the government. Actually quite a lot. Enough to feed a family for three or four days,” wrote one recipient of the supplies on Weibo.
The implementation of China’s strict zero-Covid strategy has seen the city close bus stations, cancel outgoing flights and conduct millions of tests in Shaanxi province, where Xi’an is located.
Xi’an has recorded more than 1,300 cases of the virus since December 9. The latest outbreak has cast doubt on China’s ability to maintain a zero-Covid approach as it prepares to host the 2022 Winter Olympics in February.
China has called Covid the biggest threat to international sporting events.
(pgr / pgr)
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