Will India also put lockdown after China has placed a four-million-person city under lockdown due to COVID rise
In an attempt to exterminate a Covid cluster of only a few dozen confirmed cases, China placed a city of four million people under lockdown on Tuesday, instructing residents not to leave their homes except in emergencies.
After the coronavirus was first found in China in late 2019, Beijing maintained rigorous border controls, reducing the number of cases to a trickle and allowing the economy to recover.
However, as the rest of the globe opens up and attempts to figure out how to live with the virus, China has maintained a zero-Covid policy, which has resulted in local lockdowns in a few cases.
China recorded 29 new domestic illnesses on Tuesday, six of which were in Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu Province in the country’s northwest.
The extremely contagious Delta strain has been connected to the new outbreak, which has tallied 198 cases since October 17.
Thirty-nine people have arrived in Lanzhou.
Authorities said in a statement that residents of the city will now be obliged to stay at home, with “entrance and leave of residents” rigorously monitored and confined to vital supplies or medical treatment.
On Tuesday, the World Health Organization will discuss the Emergency Use Listing of Covaxin, an Indian-made vaccine against Covid-19. The WHO’s technical advisory panel will meet on October 26 to evaluate the much-desired emergency use listing for Covaxin, which is made by Bharat Biotech, according to WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan.
He further stated that PM Modi has sanctioned 157 new medical colleges, nearly doubling the number of medical student seats. “We took a holistic approach to ensuring that people could afford therapy,” he stated.
Hundreds of thousands of people in northern China have already been given strict stay-at-home orders.
Access to tourist destinations has been limited in Beijing, which reported three new cases Tuesday, and the iconic Lama Temple has been sealed, while locals have been told not to leave the capital unless absolutely essential.
According to local news agency Beijing News, over 23,000 residents in one housing compound in Changping district have been advised to stay indoors after nine cases were discovered there in recent days.
Residents have been urged to reduce large gatherings and community mahjong and chess rooms have been closed.
The marathon, which was scheduled to attract 30,000 runners, was postponed indefinitely on Sunday.
In 11 provinces, mass testing is underway, and many inter-provincial travel groups have been halted.
Despite the fact that the country’s case counts are incredibly low in comparison to other parts of the world, authorities are determined to put an end to the newest outbreak with the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing only a little more than 100 days away.
Those found to have failed to regulate Covid are frequently fired or punished as part of China’s tight enforcement of the zero-Covid policy.
The party secretary of Ejin Banner in northern Inner Mongolia was terminated on Tuesday, according to the official Xinhua news agency, “due to inadequate performance and execution in disease prevention and control.”
As a result of the latest storm, the city has been forced to lock down around 35,000 citizens since Monday.
According to local media estimates, some 10,000 tourists were also placed under lockdown in Ejin.
Six other officials were disciplined for their “slack response” to the new incident, according to state media, and a local police bureau deputy director was fired.
