Recently, a single COVID-19 diagnosis in two Chinese cities led to the lockdown of more than two million people.
The city of Yongcheng in the central Henan Province of China went into lockdown on August 2 after one of its citizens was diagnosed with COVID-19 the day before.
As part of the lockdown, city officials ordered that all 1.6 million residents take at least one nucleic acid test from Monday to Wednesday and that only one person per household can leave the house daily for errands, the Chinese media outlet CCTV News reported.
While grocery stores, pharmacies, and hospitals are permitted to operate, pharmacies are not allowed to sell fever and cough medicines, antivirus, and antibiotic drugs. No public transportation is allowed, and all shops, businesses, restaurants, and conference centers must be closed.
Yongcheng is located in Henan’s far east region, bordering Shandong, Jiangsu, and Anhui provinces, and is served by two cross-country highways. The ruling communist regime’s current policy is to lock down the entire city after one person is diagnosed.
The authorities also set up checkpoints throughout the city to monitor people’s movements and detain those who do not have passes.
Sanya, located at the southernmost tip of China’s Hainan Island, was facing the same situation as Yongcheng and went into lockdown on August 2 after a resident was diagnosed with COVID-19 the day before, according to CCTV News. Sanya has a population of 1 million residents.
To combat outbreaks, Beijing has divided the country into three regions: high-risk, medium-risk, and low-risk, and has implemented different lockdown methods in each.
According to the state-run Beijing Daily, China has 473 high-risk regions and 636 medium-risk regions spread across 18 provinces by the afternoon of August 2.