New Delhi: As the covid-19 cases in China are on a surge, the country has resorted to lockdowns to curb the spread of the virus. On Sunday, the local government of Shenzhen city announced a strict lockdown after the city recorded 66 infections in a day, news agency AFP reported.
The city is a tech hub that resides nearly 17 million people. It is also home to tech giants like Huawei and Tencent. The administration has told the residents to stay home with only one member of the family going out to get essentials every two days.
Lately, China has shut down non-essential services as well as schools and even restaurants. According to AFP, the lockdown and the suspension of the transport services will last until March 20.
China is facing the highest surge in covid cases since the initial days of the pandemic as the cases doubled up on Sunday reaching 3,400.
"If prevention and control are not strengthened in a timely and decisive manner, it could easily become large-scale community transmission," Shenzhen health official Lin Hancheng said at a Sunday briefing.
The schools in Shanghai have also been shut down for the time being. Apart from these, other northeastern cities are also being shut down to curb the virus spread that is being led by the Omicron variant.
Jilin, the city at the center of the outbreak in the northeastern part of the country was also partially shut on Saturday. Similar is the case of Yanji, home to 700,000 people who were confined to their homes on Sunday.
Zhang Yan, a Jilin health commission official, said on Sunday, "There is insufficient understanding of the characteristics of the Omicron variant... and judgment has been inaccurate.”