Corona in Xi'an, China: lockdown without end

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Xi'an has been cut off from the outside world for almost three weeks.

The drastic corona measures in the metropolis are tough even by Chinese standards.

The city has had a tough lockdown since December 23.

The government in Beijing is sticking to a strict zero-Covid strategy and is counting on nipping any spread of the virus in the bud in the fight against Corona. While one person per household was initially allowed to go shopping in Xi'an, the requirements have now been tightened even further. The rules vary from district to district depending on the number of infections. Some people are no longer allowed outside at all and are therefore completely dependent on delivery services.

The pandemic situation is far less dramatic than the social one: In the metropolis with around 13 million inhabitants, there are fewer than a hundred new infections every day, and the trend is falling.

The authorities attribute the outbreak to the Delta variant - apart from a few cases, Omikron has not yet really arrived in China.

That could change at the latest when tens of thousands of people from abroad arrive for the Winter Olympics, which begin on February 4th in Beijing.