Wuhan, China, the city where COVID-19 originated, has completely locked down a district of one million people after four asymptomatic cases were recorded, highlighting the strictness of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “Zero-COVID” policy, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
The district of Jiangxia within Wuhan will ban large gatherings, indoor dining at restaurants, most public transportation, and close down most businesses for three days beginning Wednesday, The WSJ reported. The lockdowns come following four cases of COVID-19 detected in Wuhan, the only infections within the entirety of the province of Hubei, the WSJ added, which is approximately the size of Nebraska with a population just shy of the combined population of California and Texas.
A district of #Wuhan has been locked down after a small cluster of #Covid cases emerged. A million residents have been confined to their homes. Zero Covid still dominates life here in #China.
— Stephen McDonell (@StephenMcDonell) July 27, 2022
Residents of four neighborhoods deemed to be high-risk can not leave their homes, while residents of another four medium-risk neighborhoods cannot leave their compounds, according to CNN.
Two of the positive tests came back after routine testing drives, while the other two were identified when close contacts of the positive cases were tested, CNN added. (RELATED: China Tried To Plant Spies Inside The Fed And Kidnap Economist, Report Finds)
The round of lockdowns is the first in Wuhan since the city imposed restrictions for 76 days starting in January 2020, when the city was the world’s epicenter for COVID-19 pandemic, according to the WSJ.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has personally committed to a nation-wide “zero-COVID” policy, according to Fortune, which entails regions with elevated positivity rates being placed under strict lockdowns and leading to food shortages and riots. COVID-19 patients have been forced to wear electronic monitoring ankle bracelets.
Many of China’s wealthier citizens are now seeking to flee the country as a result of the policies, and China’s economic activity has stunted significantly, with second quarter GDP growth coming in at just 0.4%, underperforming expectations and the lowest rate since the first quarter of 2020 when the first lockdowns hit the country.
This is what life has become in China🇨🇳 since Wuhan initial Covid outbreak
A green QR code is needed to access public transportation, stores or to go to work. That means your Covid test can’t be older than 48 hours. Keeping it current cost each person 💵50 a month in testing fees pic.twitter.com/lY8P0NlncH— Songpinganq (@songpinganq) July 23, 2022
When Xi visited Wuhan last month, he said that the country would rather sacrifice on economic development to remain “COVID Zero,” according to the WSJ.
The Chinese embassy did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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