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Wuhan Plunges Back Into Lockdown Amid Small COVID Outbreak

The city, which reported the world’s first COVID cases, locked down more than 800,000 people after 240 cases were reported in two weeks.

China’s zero-tolerance policy with COVID has prompted another round of partial lockdowns in cities throughout the country, sending residents and officials scrambling to respond as cases rise nationally to more than 1,000 a day. Wuhan, the original epicenter of the pandemic, reportedly began sealing up buildings and locking down neighborhoods, ordering more than 800,000 people in one district to remain home until Oct. 30 after some 240 cases were registered in 14 days. Other cities, from Guangzhou to Xining, have shuttered stores and districts, reported The Guardian. “To reduce the risk of transmission, some vegetable and fruit stores have been closed and put under quarantine,” a Xining government official said in a statement Wednesday. The drastic efforts to curb relatively moderate case numbers is rattling China’s economy, which is simultaneously struggling to overcome a fragile housing market, supply chain issues and recent banking scandals.