China's Xi'an facing biggest Covid outbreak this year despite lockdown

 

Covid-19 infections have continued to spread in China's Xi'an city, eight days into a strict lockdown for its 13 million people.

The curbs have caused a staffing crunch at companies involved in ensuring the supply of daily necessities. (AFP)

Xi'an has reported another 155 local Covid-19 cases, taking the total number of cases to the highest seen in any Chinese city this year.

The northwestern city reported 155 domestically transmitted infections with confirmed symptoms such as a fever on Wednesday, official data showed on Thursday, up from 151 cases a day earlier.

This takes the total number of local coronavirus cases to 1,100 since the current flare-up began on December 9.

"Xi'an has reached a live-or-die stage in its fight against the virus," said Zhang Fenghu, a city government official, at a news conference on Wednesday.

Many residents have been banned from leaving their housing compounds unless they are going out to take Covid-19 tests or attend to essential matters approved by local authorities.

These restrictions have curtailed access to daily necessities, with many unable to go out to shop and left dependent on deliveries.

Restrictions have curtailed access to daily necessities, with many residents unable to go out to shop and left dependent on deliveries. (Reuters)

Citywide testing

Xi'an has embarked on multiple rounds of citywide testing to trace transmissions. A sixth round kicked off on Thursday, a day after the fifth round.

Despite the low case count in Xi'an compared with many clusters overseas, officials have imposed tough curbs on travel within and out of the city since December 23, as Beijing demands each outbreak be contained quickly.

The curbs have caused a staffing crunch at companies involved in ensuring the supply of daily necessities and the government is working on resolving the issue, according to a Xi'an government official on Wednesday.

Samsung Electronics and Micron Technology, two of the world's largest memory chip makers, have warned the lockdown could affect their chip manufacturing bases in the area.

Many residents have been banned from leaving their housing compounds unless they are going out to take Covid-19 tests or attend to essential matters approved by local authorities. (Reuters)

The southwestern region of Guangxi also reported one local symptomatic case for December 29, the National Health Commission said.

Mainland China had 101,890 confirmed coronavirus cases as of Wednesday, including locally transmitted ones and people arriving from abroad.

There were no new fatalities, leaving the death toll unchanged at 4,636.

Source: Reuters 

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