Another Outbreak in China Sends 10 Million Straight to Lockdown
A new outbreak of COVID-19 in China has seen heavy travel restrictions placed on a city of 10 million people, an increasingly common tactic in the communist nation.
According to The New York Times, residents in Harbin and other cities in the northern region of the country now face restrictions on movement after a number of new coronavirus infections were reported in the area.
Several surrounding cities closed ranks and banned outsiders, while a document published by the Heilongjiang provincial government urges Harbin residents to wear masks and vigilantly check temperatures as a safeguard against the virus. The document also placed restrictions on gatherings.
“Taking households as a unit,” the Heilongjiang government wrote, “it is strictly forbidden for urban and rural residents to visit relatives, come to the door, play cards, gather together and gather together.”
The government said it is taking steps to restrict the number of people who visit shopping centers and other crowded areas in the city at the same time, as well as advising against funerals and marriages. Sharing a taxi is now “strictly prohibited.”
Moreover, all neighborhoods are required to “prohibit the entry of persons and vehicles” from other neighborhoods.
Those confirmed to have the virus in the city will have to remain in strict quarantine for 14 days. Once the two weeks is up, the infected can be retested and the isolation order may be adjusted accordingly.
The Global Times, a newspaper backed by the Communist Party of China, appeared to blame the outbreak on a Chinese citizen who recently traveled to America.
Prior to these restrictions being implemented, a different city in the same province was thrown into lockdown.
Suifenhe, also in Heilongjiang, was closed due to an outbreak earlier this month.
While the affected areas are not under orders as draconian as Wuhan faced in the early days of China’s initial outbreak, the measures show China’s fight against COVID-19 is far from over.
The original outbreak crippled the Chinese economy, a disaster that the Asian powerhouse is still attempting to recover from.
While factories and other economic infrastructure are slowly getting back to operational capacity, the damage done to small businesses and the working class looks devastating.
In the United States, many are concerned that stay-at-home orders and the shuttering of the so-called “nonessential” economy will do similar damage to American workers.
Protests against the domestic orders have been met with police action in some states, seeming to mirror the authoritarian attitude of the Communist Party of China.
It’s unclear if China’s latest lockdown will be its last, or if it signals the beginning of a new wave of outbreaks.
With the end of the pandemic seemingly nowhere in sight, these lockdowns may simply be an increasingly normal part of life in China.
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