The COVID-19 outbreak has trapped 17 million people in Shenzhen, China

On Sunday, China recorded 3,939 cases of Covid-19 in 24 hours, the highest number in two years, the National Health Commission said. With the increase, the population of many cities has been restricted due to outbreaks related to the micron variant. This information is from Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Shenzhen, the tech hub in the south of the country, has entered confinement after 66 new cases of coronavirus were recorded.

“It’s the worst quarantine since 2020. A friend woke up in the morning to find that her building had been cordoned off all night without warning. Her boss had to send her a laptop,” the Shenzhen resident, who gave his name as Zhang.

In addition to Shenzhen, schools in Shanghai have also been closed and residents of cities in the north-east of the country have been restricted, with 19 provinces facing an outbreak caused by the omicron and delta variant of the coronavirus. The country is currently the only one that maintains a zero Covid policy, which aims to completely eliminate all outbreaks arising from the disease.

In Jilin, the capital of the province of the same name in northeastern China, residents of hundreds of neighborhoods have been partially isolated. The province’s smaller towns of Siping and Donhwa have been booked for Thursday and Friday, according to official announcements.

State media reported that the mayor of Jilin and the head of the Changchun Health Commission, also in the province, were removed from their posts on Saturday. Changchun, an industrial hub of 9 million people, imposed a confinement order last Friday.

Earlier this month, on March 1, the city of Hunchun, on the border with Russia and North Korea, was restricted, officials said. Xinhua News Agency reported that three hospitals were quickly built in that city to treat COVID-19 patients.

China, where the coronavirus was first identified, is following a strict policy with lockdowns, travel restrictions and mass testing when outbreaks are detected. The country has far fewer total cases and deaths than most countries, with 113,000 infections and just 4,600 deaths in more than two years of the pandemic. More than 80% of its population has been vaccinated.