Photo: Zheng Tingpeng/VCG via Getty
Since Dec. 9, the northern Chinese city — roughly 580 miles outside of Beijing — says it’s recorded 143 infections, despite its strict zero-COVID strategy, which includes mass testing, universal masking and lockdowns to prevent outbreaks.
The restriction — which went into effect Thursday at midnight local time – means that only one person per household in a city of 13 million people is allowed to leave the house every two days to buy necessities, per state media.
Zhang Yuan/China News Service via Getty
Non-essential businesses have been forced to close their doors and local government workers have transitioned to work from home, after bars, gym and theaters were shut down the weekend prior.
Furthermore, travel outside the city is prohibited, prompting long-distance bus stations to shut down and checkpoints to be installed throughout city roadways. Many flights to and from the Xi’an airport have also been canceled. In order to leave the area, permission from officials is required.
TheWorld Health Organizationreports that China has had 129,893 COVID-19 cases in total, with 5,699 resulting in death. The country says 2,627,703,000 COVID vaccines have been administered.
In October, the International Olympic Committee released its playbook on COVID-19 safety measures, ahead of the Olympic games set to kick off Feb. 4 in Beijing.
All athletes will be required toundergo daily COVID testing, regardless of vaccination status.
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source: people.com
