More than 800,000 people in the Covid-19 ground zero city of Wuhan have been thrown into lockdown nearly three years after the virus initially began to spread.
Cities across China are now implementing strict lockdowns, from Wuhan in central China, to Xining in the Asian superpower's northwest.
The move has turned millions of lives upside down as the nation recorded its third day in a row of more than 1,000 new Coronavirus cases nationwide, Reuters reports.
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While that might be a modest number when compared with the tens of thousands of infections per day that sent Shanghai into a full-blown lockdown earlier in 2022, it is still enough to put Chinese authorities on high alert.
Wuhan has now suspended the sale of pork after reports indicated the virus was spreading via the meat supply chain.
According to The Guardian, the city has reported about 20 to 25 new infections per day this week.
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Additionally, Wuhan registered 240 cases over the past 14 days, resulting in authorities ordering hundreds of thousands of people in one district in the city to remain in their homes until October 30.
One Wuhan resident named Chang, 38, told Reuters that locals are at their wit's end.
"I don't know what to do. If we can still survive living like this then I suppose that's what we'll do," he said.
"When we see these news stories about Covid-19, we now feel a bit numb. We feel numb to it all.
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He added: "We feel more and more numb."
China’s fourth-biggest city by economic output, Guangzhou, has also sealed up neighbourhoods as the virus spreads there.
New areas in the city are becoming infectious sites as the virus rears its head for the fourth week running.
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Guangzhou resident Lily Li, 28, told Reuters that most residents across the city 'have been under lockdown at home'.
"The situation is still unstable. Many places are under lockdown," she told Reuters.
Meanwhile the situation is worse in the city of Xining.
The Guardian has reported of food shortages and skyrocketing prices for essential items, as per the city scrambles to contain its own outbreak.
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Health authorities in the city are currently locked in a race against time to stop the virus from spreading to Xining’s wider population of 2.5 million people.
According to The Guardian, Xining government officials have confirmed that some grocery stores across the city had been forced into quarantine 'to reduce the risk of transmission'.
It’s all very reminiscent of the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. So, if anyone had ‘time travel back to 2020’ on their 2022 bingo card, be sure to cross it off.
Topics: Coronavirus, News, World News, China, Health
Rachel Lang