China locks down 400,000 people over 18 cases
Officials announced in a statement Sunday that “all villages, communities and buildings will be fully closed” in Anxin. Families are only permitted to send one person per household outside to purchase supplies once a day — and all outside vehicles are banned.
Authorities quickly imposed a lockdown on 11 residential compounds in the vicinity of the market, prohibiting anyone from entering or leaving. Residents had their temperatures checked and reported on a daily basis, and their food and daily necessities delivered.
Beijing also rolled out mass nucleic acid testing for the coronavirus, setting up 193 sampling booths across the city. More than 76,000 people were tested within 48 hours of the cluster being detected.
“The majority of … Chinese at the moment are still susceptible of the Covid-19 infection, because (of) a lack of immunity,” Zhong said. “We are facing (a) big challenge, it’s not better than the foreign countries I think at the moment.”
CNN’s Nectar Gan contributed reporting.
