More than 210,000 residents were ordered to stay at home in a southern Chinese city bordering Vietnam after one local Covid-19 case was recorded there, as China guarded against the possibility of infections being imported from its neighbour.
Police in hazmat suits in Dongxing, on the coast in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, on Tuesday began blocking all inbound and outbound traffic except medical deliveries, while buses, taxis and shuttles inside the city were suspended, the local government said. It came after an infection was reported on Monday night.
Health authorities in China have long been concerned about the coronavirus seeping in from border regions. Past outbreaks traced to border areas have been blamed on people entering the country from neighbouring states such as Myanmar.
China has pursued a zero-Covid strategy under which it tries to stamp out infections whenever they occur through limits on movement and daily mass testing. This “whack-a-mole” approach has minimised the spread of cases, but local outbreaks have continued to emerge. (SouthChinaPost)