Covid Third wave start in China: Imposed complete lockdown

Amid the fresh surge in Covid-19 infections in at least 11 Chinese provinces, a fresh lockdown has been imposed in the affected parts of the country. More than 100 fresh cases across these provinces have been registered over the last week.

“Since October 17, there have been multiple scattered local outbreaks in China, and they’re expanding rapidly,” said Mi Feng, a spokesman at the National Health Commission. “There is an increasing risk that the outbreak will spread even further,” media reported. The rapid spread comes despite about 75 per cent of China’s population of more than a billion people being fully vaccinated, according to Mi.

The spread of coronavirus infections worried the Chinese government, which insists on a strict zero-COVID policy to stamp out infections. The outbreak was first detected on October 16 among a tour group of fully vaccinated senior citizens from Shanghai who travelled in several northern regions. Among the 133 infections reported as of Sunday, 106 were linked to 13 tour groups, according to Mi, the NHC health official.

Infections have been reported in nearly a third of the country’s provinces and regions, with all medium- and high-risk regions concentrated in Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Ningxia, Guizhou and Beijing. Authorities have banned travel agencies from organising cross-provincial tours in these regions.

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On Sunday, the Chinese capital tightened entry restrictions into the city, requiring travellers from places with confirmed cases to present a negative coronavirus test and undergo 14 days of health monitoring.

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