Chinese city under threat of new lockdown

Two months without restrictions and the threat of confinement already back for the city of Xi’an. Blame it on a flu epidemic.

By Martin Pereira for Le Point

Une flu epidemic, and the threat of a return confinement for a Chinese city. Xi’an, capital of Shaanxi province, is worried about an emergency plan, according to International mail. The country is facing an explosion in the number of flu cases. In one month, the contamination rate rose from 0.7% to 25.1%. Hence this prepared contingency plan. It contains four levels of interventions. It’s the first two that are worrying.

The local authorities have indeed planned “the quarantine of the epidemic zone, the suspension of production and commercial activities” and “the suspension of work, the market and courses”. What arouse concern and indignation. “If every wave of influenza must now lead to containment [de la population], isn’t this a return to the old ways? ask Chinese Internet users. Tang Renwu, director of the Institute of Government Management at Beijing Normal University, tries to reassure him in the Singaporean media Lianhe Zaobao. According to him, local authorities fear a new epidemic of the magnitude of Covid-19. He calls on local authorities to be careful with official documents, to avoid any panic.