Citizens in China shelter from the heat in graves 1:17
Hong Kong (CNN) --
The Chinese metropolis of Chongqing launched massive COVID-19 tests in its central area amid a record heat wave, leaving millions of residents standing in the sun for hours as they battle the coronavirus. extreme temperatures and power shortages.
Strict zero-Covid measures enacted by the southwestern megacity to contain an emerging outbreak are the latest hardship for residents already enduring a crippling heat wave, severe drought and wildfires.
Chongqing reported 40 COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, bringing the total to 146 cases since mid-August.
Authorities ordered more than 10 million people in the city's central urban districts to undergo mandatory COVID-19 tests on Wednesday, as the maximum temperature in Chongqing exceeded 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).
Red alert activated in 147 Chinese cities due to high temperatures
More than 3,800 temporary testing points were set up in the central districts.
Photos on Chinese social media show residents lining up in long lines at those spots, with some fainting from the intense heat.
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A widely circulated video shows a street packed with hundreds of people apparently waiting in line for Covid tests, most wearing face masks and some fanning themselves to relieve the heat.
In the background, plumes of wildfire smoke rise above the pale orange horizon.
Residents line up to undergo mandatory COVID tests in Chongqing, as plumes of smoke from wildfires rise in the background.
"It's 43 degrees, people in Chongqing are already at the limit," said a resident on Weibo, China's Twitter-like platform.
To ensure that residents of the central districts comply with the mandate to take tests, the authorities changed the health codes of everyone's mobile phones to orange.
The codes will turn green only when they complete the covid tests.
The green code is a prerequisite for conducting daily life in China, where freedom of movement is dictated by a government-enforced color-coding system to control the spread of the virus.
Residents who have not been tested will not be allowed to attend meetings, gatherings or commercial activities, nor will they be able to enter closed and crowded public spaces, according to the authorities.
Zeng Meng, a 42-year-old resident of Chongqing, said a message on her health code app told her to take a COVID test around midnight on Wednesday.
"Forcing more than 10 million people to take covid tests at such high temperatures is deplorable," he said.
"This is neither scientific nor reasonable nor legal."
Zeng said people started lining up to get tested at his residential compound early Wednesday morning, but he refused to take one.
On Thursday, he was barred from entering a supermarket due to a code orange on his health app, he said.
"The excessive anticovid measures have caused us great inconvenience. Many of my friends are bothered that they are forced to take covid tests," he said.
Forest fires and power outages in China
The tests took place as thousands of emergency teams struggled to contain the fast-spreading wildfires, which have ravaged the city's forests and mountains in recent days.
The flames are visible at night from some areas of the city center.
On social media, residents of central Chongqing complained that they smelled like smoke inside their apartments, while others posted photos of burning embers from the fires reaching their balconies.
Since August 18, forest fires have started in several outlying districts, according to local authorities.
More than 32 million people live in the municipality.
Forest fires are another consequence of the heat wave - the worst in China since 1961 - that has hit the southwest, center and east of the country in recent weeks, with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees in more than 100 cities.
The heat wave has also led to increased demand for air conditioning and a reduction in hydropower capacity due to droughts that have affected the commercially important Yangtze River and connected waterways.
This week, Chongqing's neighbor Sichuan province extended temporary power cuts to factories in 19 of the region's 21 cities.
The power cuts will last until at least this Thursday, in a measure that, according to the local government, will guarantee the supply of energy to homes.
Last week, the provincial capital, Chengdu, began dimming the lights at subway stations to save electricity.
China closes factories due to heat wave 1:03
The power shortage has dealt a devastating blow to farmers, who are watching crops and livestock wither and die in scorched fields and stifling sheds.
On Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, the owner of a chicken farm in Sichuan posted a video showing piles of dead poultry on the ground.
"I watch them die," the owner said through tears.
"The temperature was so high yesterday, and yet they cut the electricity."
On Tuesday, Chinese authorities including the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Meteorological Administration jointly issued an emergency notice, requiring local authorities to reduce the impact of drought and high temperatures on grain production. country autumn.
Local authorities were asked to "disseminate early warning information, expand drought-resistant water sources, and guide the development of cloud seeding."
The Meteorological Administration said on Tuesday that it had sent a high-performance aircraft to Chongqing to help carry out cloud seeding, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
Chongqing meteorological authorities said the plane would coordinate with 107 anti-aircraft guns and 96 rockets on the ground to create precipitation with precision, CCTV reported.
CNN's Simone McCarthy contributed to this report.
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