Chinese Jia county goes into coronavirus lockdown as country tries to get back to work amid fear of second wave
by Guo Rui & Echo Xie (SCMP) - in Beijing
Authorities order residents of Jia county (Henan province) to stay home after reports of cases linked to the area’s hospital.
All but a few essential businesses and services shut temporarily, according to government notice.
Henan province in central China has taken the drastic measure of putting a mid-sized county in total lockdown as authorities try to fend off a second coronavirus wave in the midst of a push to revive the economy.
Curfew-like measures came into effect on Tuesday 31 in Jia county, near the city of Pingdingshan, with the area’s roughly 600,000 residents told to stay home, according to a notice on the country’s official microblog account.
Special approval was required for all movement outside the home, it said.
After months of restrictions to contain the spread of the coronavirus, China has reported a decline in domestic cases of Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus.
On Wednesday April 1, the National Health Commission reported 36 new infections – all but one of which were imported cases.
Chinese leaders are eager to restart the economy but have stressed that it must be balanced with containment measures.
Coronavirus could cause global food shortages by April as export curbs worsen supply chain problems.
During his recent inspection trip to Zhejiang province, President Xi Jinping emphasised that China must take careful steps to get life back to normal and warned officials to ensure “no loopholes” to prevent a return of the epidemic that has sickened more than 82,000 and killed over 3,300 people in mainland China alone.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3078003/xi-jinping-tells-china-stay-guard-over-coronavirus-country
https://www.scmp.com/coronavirus
According to the Jia county notice, residents must have special permits to leave their home and must have their temperature taken and wear face masks for those trips.
All businesses have been shut down, except utility companies, medical suppliers, logistics companies and food processing firms. And all shops except supermarkets, hospitals, food markets, petrol stations, pharmacies and hotels have been closed.
In addition, only people with special permits can go to work and cars can only be used on alternate days depending on their number plate.
China imposed draconian measures in Wuhan – the initial epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic – in January, sealing off the city of 11 million people to prevent the disease from spreading.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3076724/coronavirus-wuhan-lockdown-end-two-weeks-china-gets-people-back
An official of the county’s transport office confirmed the county had been put in virtual isolation.
“It’s better not to come to Jia county now,” the official said. “Nobody can enter or leave.”
Local residents contacted on Wednesday said they were notified by the government about the lockdown.
Wang Xiao, 23, said she was told by her village on Tuesday 31 afternoon.
She said the authorities urged residents to stock up on vegetables and daily necessities to prepare for the isolation, adding that each family would could also assign one member to go out for groceries once every two days.
“I’m worried because it’s so close to me,” she said. “The hospital is only about 2km [1.2 miles] from my home. I had no idea that there were confirmed cases [of infection].”
Wang was referring to news reports that the county reported three infection cases on Sunday. According to the reports, a doctor surnamed Liu who worked at the county’s hospital tested positive for the coronavirus on Saturday.
Liu returned to the county from Wuhan in January and resumed work at the hospital after completing two weeks of self-isolation, the report said.
However, Liu apparently passed the virus on to two of his colleagues at the hospital as well as a former classmate, with all of them testing positive on Sunday.
Although Henan is just north of Hubei province, where the coronavirus outbreak was first reported, it had only about a dozen confirmed infected patients as of Wednesday.
Wang Jun, a businessman in the county, said he had felt relieved because they could resume production and get back to work. But now he was very nervous about the lockdown.
“Previously no one knew what happened as there were rumours flying around of people have been infected and no one dared to go out,” Wang said.
“Now, we know that the doctors were sick but our daily life has been affected.”
Chinese province bars citizens from leaving the country to stop coronavirus spread
by Zhuang Pinghui (SCMP)
Authorities in Yunnan limit land and river ports to cargo traffic, locking down border communities.
Province on alert for imported cases of Covid-19.
The southwestern province of Yunnan has banned Chinese citizens from leaving the country via its more than 30 land and river ports to stop the spread of the coronavirus epidemic through returning nationals.
https://www.scmp.com/coronavirus
Yunnan, which borders Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar, had restricted its 19 land ports and 14 river ports to cargo, the provincial government said on Tuesday.
The authorities said that from Tuesday 31 night, all departures by Chinese citizens via the checkpoints would be suspended, with exemptions granted for approved foreign aid, technical support or emergency medical workers.
China closed its borders to foreign travellers and residency holders on Saturday.
But non-Chinese residents of border areas who have permits to cross into Yunnan could still enter the province, according to a previous report by China News Service. https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3077355/coronavirus-beijings-ban-foreign-travellers-comes-force-months
Those permit holders can still cross into Yunnan but will be discouraged from doing so. Under the new restrictions, they will need to test negative for two nucleic acid tests and one antibody test before being put in seven days of centralised isolation and another seven days of home isolation, all at their own expense.
Residents in border cities and counties will be restricted to the village and community level to prevent entry and exit of outsiders. They would also be encouraged to report illegal immigrants, the government said.
Yunnan, which recorded 174 local coronavirus cases including two deaths, said all patients in its initial wave were discharged by March 14. The province is now on alert for imported cases, with eight patients who travelled to the province from overseas being treated as of Tuesday. https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3077458/chinas-coronavirus-cases-drop-below-3000-most-new-infections
Xiao Xian, a professor of international relations from Yunnan University, said some permit holders could be deterred from crossing into Yunnan by the cost of tests and quarantine.
Xiao also said that banning Chinese citizens from crossing the border would affect border trade and tourism, but it was necessary to stop transmission of the coronavirus.
“The need to prevent the spread of an infectious disease outweighs trade and tourism. It is understandable since it is the country’s top priority now,” Xiao said.