Beijing: The city of China which was locked in Xi’an on Monday tightened Covid-19 control to a “strict” level, forbid the population of driving cars around the city in an effort to control the country’s worst outbreak in 21 months.
China has attached to the strategy of “zero-covid” from strict border limits, long quarantine and targeted locking because Beijing prepares to welcome thousands of foreign visitors for the February Winter Olympics.
But Xi’an is historic where 13 million residents face the fifth day of their house in the center of the flare-up that has encouraged national daily infections to the highest number since March last year.
Restrictions tightened further on Monday when Xi’an announced it would impose “the most stringent social control measures”, according to a social media account of the city government.
The northern house for the world-famous terracotta soldier recorded 150 new cases on Monday, bringing a total to around 650 since December 9.
There are no vehicles allowed on the road unless they help with disease control work, the latest announcement said.
Police and health officials will “estimate” cars, and those who violate the rules can face 10 day detention and a fine of 500 yuan ($ 78).
Two other cities in Shaanxi Province also reported cases related to Xi’an, when authorities urged migrant workers from the city not to travel home in the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday.
The Delta variant outbreak that spread rapidly has caused severe symptoms in four patients including a one-year-old child, Times Global Times Tabloid reported.
Since locking the city last week, the authorities have launched several bulk tests and places nearly 30,000 people at the quarantine hotel.
All non-essential businesses have been closed, while every household can only send one person to buy needs every three days.
The Xi’an government has been burned because of the handling of the felt outbreak, with the body of China’s discipline said last week that 26 local officials had been convicted of irregularities in virus prevention.
The authorities have strict strict movements into and out of the city, with recordings from Broadcaster State CCTV on Sundays showing trucks waiting in line at the road checkpoint as workers in Hazmat’s suit on the driver’s cellphone.
Because Coronavirus first appeared in the central city of Wuhan at the end of 2019, China had mostly maintained a pandemic in the bay.
The country officially only recorded two deaths in more than a year.