The Chinese government is imposing new lockdown measures as COVID-19 cases rise across the nation of 1.4 billion people.
Three of Shanghai’s downtown districts have ordered entertainment venues such as internet cafes to close temporarily to help contain the spread of COVID-19, according to official government announcements.
Many schools in the central Chinese city of Xi’an have cancelled in-person classes. The popular tourist city Xinjiang has placed a ban on people leaving the region due to a local COVID-19 outbreak, and the city of Haikou in Hainan province has been locked down since October 6.
The new lockdown measures come after a week-long National Day holiday during which COVID-19 cases spiked. The Chinese government maintains a “zero COVID” policy nationwide.
Mainland China reported 427 new symptomatic COVID-19 cases in more than 20 of the country’s regions as of October 10. When adding infections without symptoms, the daily COVID-19 case count surpassed 2,000 and came from nearly all 31 regions within China.
Now is viewed as a politically sensitive time for China as President Xi Jinping is expected to consolidate his power at a meeting of the ruling Chinese Communist Party next week.
Ahead of that congress, China’s government reaffirmed its zero COVID-19 policy in a national announcement.
