Tens of millions locked down As virus clusters rise

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Tens of millions locked down As virus clusters rise

Tens of millions of people were under lock-down on Wednesday in China and businesses in a major tourist city were forced to close as new Covid clusters sparked fears of wider restrictions.

Chinese health authorities reported more than 300 infections in the historic northern city of Xi'an, home to the Terracotta Army and the country's biggest city, Shanghai.

The official response and the outbreaks have dreaded hopes that China would move away from the strict virus curbs seen earlier this year, when its hardline zero-Covid policy saw tens of millions locked down for weeks on end.

In Shanghai, some people on social media reported receiving government food rations -- a throwback to the months-long confinement forced on the city's residents in the spring.

I'm so nervous, the epidemic has destroyed my youth. I'm about to go crazy, posted by a Shanghai-based user on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform.

There was a new round of mass testing in more than half of the city's districts after a rebound in cases since the weekend. All karaoke bars were closed Wednesday after some infections were linked to six of the venues.

Alice Chan, a Shanghai resident, told AFP that this is unnecessary and I don't really want to do it.

She said she took part in the mass testing because she was worried that her health code, which is used to access public spaces, could flag her as a Covid risk.

One resident who only gave his name as Yao said that the situation won't improve in the short term.

People are scared of being locked in their homes because they're not really scared of Covid anymore. The population of Xi'an, a historic city of 13 million, suffered a month-long lockdown at the end of last year, was placed under temporary control measures after 29 infections were found since Saturday, mostly among waste recycling workers.

The city government said in a notice that entertainment venues, including pubs, internet cafes and karaoke bars, would shut down their doors from midnight on Wednesday.

State media showed Xi'an residents queuing up for tests past midnight Tuesday, but said the city was not in lockdown.

The outbreak was blamed for the BA, according to officials. The sublineage of the Omicron variant is more transmissible and immune evasive.

The positive infections are all the BA. 5.2 branch of the Omicron variant and epidemiological tracing work is still in full swing, Xi'an health official Ma Chaofeng said at a briefing.

The outbreaks pose a new challenge for Chinese President Xi Jinping, who last week reaffirmed his commitment to the zero-Covid strategy despite the mounting economic cost.

At least 114 million people were under full or partial lockdowns nationwide, a huge jump from last week's 66.7 million, according to Japanese bank Nomura.

Since last week, more than 1,000 infections have been reported in the central province of Anhui, with dozens spilling over to the province of Jiangsu near Shanghai, threatening the Yangtze Delta manufacturing region.