The large city of Xi'an in northern China, known for the famous buried army of terracotta warriors, today began diagnostic tests on all 13 million of its inhabitants, after detecting about 40 cases. Covid-19.
Although the number of cases in China is extremely low compared to other countries, the authorities do not want to leave anything to chance before the Winter Olympics and the big movements that take place during the Chinese New Year.
The country has virtually eliminated the epidemic in its territory since the spring of 2020, thanks to long-term mandatory quarantines upon arrival of visitors, targeted locks, mass diagnostic tests, mobile applications to monitor movements and drastically restrict international flights.
China, however, continues to experience small sporadic outbreaks on a regular basis, which are generally limited to a few weeks. The virus appeared in late 2019 in Wuhan, a city in central China.
The Ministry of Health announced today 42 new patients in Xi'an. With them, the number of patients registered in the city since December 91 increases to 9, according to the local health authorities.
The city also closed schools and large indoor entertainment venues, while encouraging residents to avoid going out and gathering in large groups.
The museum that houses the famous terracotta buried army, which is located in Xi'an inside the mausoleum of China's first emperor, announced that it is closing due to the epidemic, without announcing a date for its reopening.
China has been pursuing a "zero-case Covid" strategy since last year, which aims to do everything possible to minimize the incidence of new cases. The latter generally increase by only a few tens per day.
The authorities mainly want to avoid any big outbreak before the Beijing Winter Olympics (February 4-20), as well as the congestion in transport as the Lunar New Year (February 1) approaches.
The Chinese Ministry of Health announced at the weekend that 1,19 billion people have already received two doses of the vaccine in the country. This represents about 85% of the Chinese population.
Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ-AFP