Lockdown in China's metropolis of Xi'an: Like in an end

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The authorities control everything, people here are only allowed to go outside the door with special permits: the 13 million inhabitants of the Chinese metropolis of Xi'an have been living in a hard lockdown for almost two weeks.

If you want to visit a hospital, you have to prove a negative test result.

The regional government has resolved not to overlook anyone in mass testing.

It should also be ensured that no one disregards the travel restrictions.

Only 95 confirmed cases with clinical symptoms were known on Monday, a slight increase compared to 90 the previous day.

The number of infections is 166 per day.

But China is one of the few countries in the world that is still sticking to a zero-covid strategy.

Chen Zhijun, Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Xi'an »Absolutely no cases means: All future infections can be detected among close contacts who are already in quarantine.

Then there are no infections in the community.

If we achieve that, we can create good conditions to gradually dismantle the measures against the virus with the next step. "

The residents of Xi'an are not even allowed to go shopping for groceries alone; they are dependent on delivery services.

The delivery of food via human chains in protective suits looks like an oppressive scene from a bad science fiction film to western observers.

The measures are also hitting the economy hard: Xi'an is an important production location for computer chips, the production of which had to be adjusted due to a lack of workers.

With the strict measures, the Chinese government is trying to bring the situation under control before the Winter Olympics in February.

Against the background of a possible wave with the highly contagious Omikron variant, however, it is becoming increasingly difficult to adhere to the zero-covid policy.