The state media reported that officials in the city ordered residents to stay at home unless there was a compelling reason. They also suspended all transportation to and from the city, except for special cases.
The order stated that one person per household will be allowed out every two days to purchase household necessities. The order went into effect Wednesday night at midnight. There is no information about when it will be lifted.
It was not clear if the virus was the new surging omicron or the more widespread delta variant. China has only seven cases of omicron in China — four in Guangzhou’s southern manufacturing center, two in Changsha’s southern city and one in Tianjin’s northern port.
Social media posts showed panic buying of household and grocery products. The government promised new supplies. On Thursday, residents posted that the situation was calm and people were allowed to move around the compound where they live.
Thursday’s report from Xi’an added 63 cases of locally transmitted disease in the 24 hours preceding. This brings the total number of reported cases to 211 for the week. Xi’an, the capital of Shaanxi Province, is well-known for its imperial relics and major industrial center.
China is also dealing with an outbreak of the disease in several Chinese cities located in Zhejiang, near Shanghai. However, isolation measures have been less focused.
China has implemented strict pandemic control measures as part of its policy to reduce new transmissions to zero. This includes frequent lockdowns and universal masking, mass testing, and mass testing. Although the policy was not entirely successful and caused major disruptions to travel and trade, Beijing credits the policy with helping to contain the spread of the disease.
These measures were taken in advance of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, which will begin on February 4.
After the coronavirus was detected in Wuhan in late 2019, the Xi’an restrictions were some of the most severe since China in 2020 imposed a tight lockdown on more 11 million people around Wuhan.
China reported 4,636 deaths in COVID-19 cases, which includes 100,644 other cases.
