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Tens of millions of people were put under lockdown in China on Wednesday, as companies in a key tourist hub were ordered to close their doors and new clusters stoked worries of a return to blanket restrictions.
Over 300 cases were recorded Wednesday by health officials, with concentrations detected in the historic northern city of Xi’an, home to the Terracotta Army, as well as the country’s largest city, Shanghai.
The new incidents, and the official response to them, have fueled fears that China will return to the kinds of harsh restrictions experienced earlier this year, when Beijing’s hardline zero-Covid policy saw tens of millions locked up for weeks on end.
Some residents in Shanghai reported receiving official food rations on social media Tuesday, harkening back to the month-long imprisonment in the spring.
“Let me tell you a terrifying story, Putuo district is sending out vegetables again,” one person said in a WeChat post that quickly went viral.
“I’m terrified; the epidemic has ruined my youth. I’m on the verge of going insane, “Another Weibo user from Shanghai commented.
Following a rise in cases since the weekend, officials initiated a new round of mass testing in more than half of the city’s districts, shutting all karaoke bars on Wednesday after some infections were connected to six such establishments.
And Xi’an, a historic metropolis of 13 million people that was under a month-long lockdown at the end of last year, was placed back under “temporary control measures” after 29 cases were discovered, largely among trash recycling employees, since Saturday.
The municipal government said in a notice that public entertainment outlets such as pubs, internet cafes, and karaoke bars would close their doors at midnight on Wednesday.
State media displayed footage of Xi’an residents queuing for tests after midnight Tuesday, while emphasising that the city was not under lockdown.
Officials have attributed the city’s outbreak on the BA.5.2 sub-lineage of the Omicron variety, which is more transmissible and immune evading.
“The positive illnesses are all from the BA.5.2 branch of the Omicron variation, and epidemiological tracing work is still ongoing,” Xi’an health official Ma Chaofeng said during a press conference.
The new outbreaks pose a new challenge to President Xi Jinping, who last week reaffirmed his commitment to zero Covid despite rising economic costs.
According to Nomura, a Japanese bank, at least 114.8 million individuals are under complete or partial lockdowns across the country as of Monday, up from 66.7 million last week.
Since last week, more than 1,000 cases have been detected in central Anhui province, with hundreds spreading to neighbouring Jiangsu province, endangering the major Yangtze Delta manufacturing zone.
