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Numerous localities in the territory applied specific closures that affect millions of citizens due to the sudden appearance of new cases of coronavirus. In the Asian giant, a ‘zero Covid’ policy governs and that is why the national government’s decision is to isolate those infected, including tourists and preventing them from returning home. “Prevention and control work is coming under increasing pressure,” the health authorities warned.
This Thursday, August 11, millions of Chinese inhabitants have had to confine themselves after more than 2,000 cases were detected throughout the country, turning on the selective isolation protocol in pursuit of the ‘zero Covid’ doctrine that governs the Asian giant .
Following that policy, numerous cities have imposed restrictions on their populations, reducing unnecessary movement for a few days, a more relaxed measure than those that fell on Shanghai last spring.
One of the hardest hit spots is the island province of Hainan, one of the busiest tourist destinations. The ‘Chinese Hawaii’ registered more than 1,250 symptomatic and asymptomatic cases in the last few hours, confining tourists and natives to their homes or hotels.
Since last week, traffic blockades and mandatory confinements have caused around 80,000 tourists to be unable to board their return flights. Local media reported that 2,000 who were not in risky areas returned to their places of origin.
The authorities of the island territory are considering the possibility that the virus has been introduced into the community through trade with foreign fishermen, the activity where the first infected met.
For its part, the eastern town of Yiwu installed a “silent management” for three days from this Thursday to stop a “serious” outbreak. Noted for its manufacturing and commercial production, the city of 1.8 million inhabitants detected 470 cases.
The jurisdiction suspended public transport, some designated areas will be prohibited and they must stay at home except for urgent needs.
The western region of Xinjiang also partially paralyzed community transport services and closed urban areas for five days after 27 positive tests were revealed on Wednesday. While it prohibited citizens from leaving their homes except to work.
While in Tibet new cases were registered for the first time after two years. For the 54 infected, restrictions were imposed at different points in the extensive region that is home to 3.5 million civilians.
Chinese authorities mobilize to keep new infections at bay
Against this background, the national health authorities stated that “prevention and control work is under increasing pressure” and underlined the importance of applying the ‘zero Covid’ regulations.
After the severe outbreak of last spring, the inhabitants of the most populated cities carry out PCR tests regularly and neighborhoods where there is an infected person are confined. In addition, the borders continue to be closed since the beginning of the pandemic.
Last Wednesday, 1,993 new cases were reported in mainland China (1,000 more than the previous day), 614 symptomatic and 1,379 asymptomatic, according to the National Health Commission. In Beijing there were two local cases on Wednesday, while Shanghai remains without new patients.
This outbreak and its measures, added to the slow economic recovery, caused a fall in the yuan on August 11.
With Reuters and EFE
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