New Coronavirus News from 23 Dec 2021

This Lockdown In China Is Biggest Since Covid Broke Out In Wuhan [NDTV, 23 Dec 2021]

The rising number of COVID-19 cases underscores the challenge China faces at a time of increased holiday travel and preparation for the winter Olympic Games.

China locked down the western city of Xi'an on Thursday to stamp out a persistent Covid outbreak, its biggest such move since the pandemic started in Wuhan, underscoring how the country's zero-tolerance approach hasn't allowed it to move on since the virus emerged nearly two years ago.

The 13 million residents of Xi'an were told to remain in their homes and to designate one person to go out every other day for necessities, triggering fights over access to food. Non-essential travel out of the city was banned. This came after a second round of mass testing pinpointed 127 Covid infections scattered across 14 districts, making containment of the virus "grave and complicated," the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

The rising number of cases underscores the challenge China faces at a time of increased holiday travel and preparation for the winter Olympic Games, which will feature an influx of athletes and their entourages in February. The vast majority of the infections stem from the delta variant, which spread through most of the world in the summer and fall. The country is girding for the more infectious omicron strain, which has been shown to evade immunity from vaccination or previous infection.

Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan urged "swift" measures to curb the spread of infections, the report said. Sun, whose membership in the 25-person Politburo makes her one of China's most-senior officials, also stressed the importance of tightening restrictions on the movement of people to prevent large gatherings in key areas, according to Xinhua.

Protracted Battle
The lockdown of Xi'an is the latest escalation in China's efforts to extinguish local transmission of the delta variant as it becomes the only country in the world still bent on eliminating the virus and bringing cases to zero. To prevent the infections in Xi'an from flowing into other areas, the city cancelled all domestic flights on Thursday, local media reported in the Paper.
Throughout the pandemic, officials have been able to stamp out outbreaks within about a month through mass testing, aggressive contact-tracing and targeted lockdowns.

Yet as the virus's new strains become more infectious, increasingly disruptive measures have been needed to contain outbreaks, putting pressure on the world's second largest economy. It's been more than two months since there were no new local cases of Covid in China.

While local authorities have in the past used targeted lockdowns to slow outbreaks in smaller places in China, no major city has been put under mass restrictions since Wuhan in early 2020. It has a similar population size as Xi'an.

Officials in Beijing on Thursday acknowledged that there will inevitably be Covid infections at the winter Olympic Games, which are set to begin in early February. They urged all participants to get booster shots to better protect against the virus, especially those caused by the immunity-evading omicron variant.

Covert Spread
The outbreak in the city, the capital of many ancient Chinese dynasties that's known for its terracotta warriors, traced its roots to a flight from Pakistan. A cleaner at a quarantine hotel got infected two weeks ago after disinfecting the rooms of travellers who tested positive upon arrival in China. The virus quickly spread to coworkers, while another chain of transmission may have brought it from the airport to local communities.

Many of the early cases were caused by a subtype of the delta strain. Yet the virus's subsequent spread hasn't been fully accounted for, enabling it to covertly fan out across the city and triggering the sweeping lockdown in an effort to contain it. More than 200 cases have been detected through Thursday.

While the number of infections remains small, the fact they are scattered across the city's 14 districts shows how difficult it will be to contain the outbreak. Officials still haven't identified some chains of transmission and the city is initiating a third round of mass testing in hopes of spotting them.

Subsequent cases have been found in two other cities in the Shaanxi Province, where Xi'an is the capital. Infections also occurred in Beijing and the southern Chinese manufacturing hub of Dongguan, where two dozen cases linked to the Xi'an outbreak were detected.

On China's social media, some people described the outbreak as the worst the city has encountered. Videos posted online show people fighting over food and other essential goods in supermarkets as they stock up for the lockdown.

Entrance Examination
The outbreak comes as the city is set to hold a graduate school entrance examination for some 135,000 people next weekend. Some have been told to sit for the exam in other cities or provinces, while those who are infected or have been identified as a close contact will take the test in quarantine.

Meanwhile, China has found four omicron infections from people returning from overseas. It hasn't yet seen the far more infectious strain spread in the local community. Authorities have vowed to tighten restrictions at borders and ports as they see a mounting risk of infection seeping in from overseas.

Chinese city under lockdown as Covid cases rise [Saudi Gazette, 23 Dec 2021]

BEIJING — More than 13 million people in the Chinese city of Xi'an have been ordered to stay at home as authorities attempt to tackle a Covid outbreak there, BBC reported.

The northern city has recorded 143 infections since 9 December.

Under the new restrictions announced on Wednesday, only one person per household is allowed to leave home every two days to buy essential goods.

China has a strict zero-Covid strategy, using mass testing and lockdown to stop outbreaks.

The country is on high alert for Covid as it gears up to host the 2022 Winter Olympics in February.

Residents of Xi'an, known for its Terracotta Warriors, are not allowed to leave the city unless they have extenuating circumstances and approval from officials to so do. The restrictions came into effect at midnight on Thursday local time.

It is not yet known how long the restrictions will last.

Millions of tests have been conducted in Shaanxi province, where Xi'an is located.

Long-distance bus stations have already closed and checkpoints have been installed on motorways into the city. A large number of flights from Xi'an's airport have been cancelled.

Non-essential businesses have closed and local government employees have been told to work from home.

Last weekend authorities had already closed indoor facilities such as bars, gyms and cinemas as a precaution, according to state-run Global Times.

Officials say the outbreak is the Delta variant of Covid and have not mentioned Omicron.

State media have been reporting this week that Xi'an is facing a "dual epidemic" as there have been "several reported cases of haemorrhagic fever, a natural epidemic disease with a high fatality rate". However, this is reported as being a "common" seasonal disease in northern China, and predominantly concentrated in rural areas.

China has admitted that Covid-19 remains the "biggest challenge" to the Winter Olympics.

The country, where the virus was first recorded, has confirmed more than 113,000 cases and 4,849 deaths.

Chinese Terracotta Warriors city Xian in lockdown as Covid-19 outbreak grows [South China Morning Post, 23 Dec 2021]

BY Phoebe Zhangand Guo Rui

The northwestern Chinese city of Xian launched lockdown measures on Thursday as it accounted for 63 of the country’s 71 new local symptomatic Covid-19 cases, detected in citywide testing.

Home to the famed Terracotta Warriors and nearly 100 universities and colleges, the capital of Shaanxi province is battling a twin onslaught of the coronavirus and deadly seasonal haemorrhagic fever. The city of 13 million residents had on Wednesday reported 52 symptomatic cases from the same round of testing.

On Wednesday night, the Xian government announced that starting on Thursday, people could leave the city only where absolutely necessary, for which permission needed to be granted.

All residential compounds, villages and companies were placed in lockdown. Each family was permitted to send one member to buy supplies every two days, but no other trips were allowed except emergencies such as admission to hospital.

Schools, tourism and mass gatherings were suspended, while shops and entertainment venues were closed and dining in was halted in restaurants.

The Xian clusters had already been confirmed as having spread to four cities: Yanan and Xianyang in Shaanxi, Dongguan in the southern Guangdong province, and Beijing in the north.
China on Monday further tightened its stringent Covid-19 quarantine and border control rules to counter the threat of the Omicron variant, and health authorities pledged to stick with the country’s zero-Covid policy.

Nationwide, besides the 71 new local symptomatic cases announced on Thursday, there were two local asymptomatic cases and 46 imported cases (29 of them symptomatic).
Ian Yang, a 38-year-old social worker in Xian, told the South China Morning Post she had been working from home for three days, leaving her flat only for Covid-19 testing.
“Starting today, my residential compound is handing out a dated permission card to every family, and people are only allowed to enter and exit after showing the card at the gate,” she said.

Her family has stocked up on food and other necessities for a week, and placed further orders online.

Asia-Pacific countries adopt varying approaches to dealing with Omicron coronavirus variant
Universities are operating under strict regulations. Gao Yongkai, a student at the local Xidian University, said academic buildings had been closed and student volunteers were helping to conduct campuswide Covid-19 testing.

“Currently classes are finished and it’s academic testing month, so you see many people studying while standing in queues for Covid-19 tests,” he said.

This weekend, the postgraduate admission test – a requirement for all graduate schools in mainland China – is also due to take place in Xian. Students who were unable to reach the city were told they could apply to take it elsewhere.

Xian has come under criticism in recent days for chaotic arrangements including its health code app – essential as a track-and-trace tool – breaking down on Monday, causing confusion and frustration among locals.