Faced with its worst epidemic outbreak in two years, China had to resolve on Friday March 11 to confine Changchun, in the northeast of the country. In this city of nine million inhabitants, only one person per household is now allowed to go out and only once every two days to ensure supplies.
The town hall, which is preparing to screen the entire population, has ordered the closure of schools and shops as well as public transport. It is forbidden to leave the city which has registered several hundred cases in recent days. This confinement is the largest announced in China since that of the metropolis of Xi’an and its 13 million inhabitants at the end of last year and for a month.
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China will also introduce the use of rapid antigen tests for the first time. The self-test kits will be available for purchase for hospitals and citizens from “retail pharmacies, online sales platforms and other channels”.
Highest figures since the first phase of the epidemic
China quickly stemmed the epidemic in the spring of 2020 by adopting very strict containment measures, sometimes affecting entire cities. As a result, in the space of two years, the official report shows just over 100,000 cases and only 4,636 deaths. But the Omicron strain is the source of localized outbreaks which affected 1,369 people on Friday. A figure which remains low compared to the rest of the world but which is nonetheless the highest for China since the first phase of the epidemic.
“We must constantly refine the measures” against the epidemic, Prime Minister Li Keqiang simply indicated, during a river speech to deputies on March 5. Many parts of the country are now facing tougher restrictions. In Shanghai, the most populous city in China (25 million inhabitants), students will now have to take their courses online.