New outbreak of COVID-19 in China leads to lockdowns, curbs

China is grappling with the issue of coronavirus once again with a new lockdown announced in the capital city of Beijing. Some are citing it to be the worst outbreak in China since March 2020 as new clusters emerge and the outbreak becomes bigger.

Even though Chinese leader Xi Jinping had declared a win over COVID-19, it is reported that the recent outbreak in China began in Hebei and then spread to 11 other regions in the Northeast, and finally, it reached Beijing.

With the lockdown in place in Beijing, the hotspot is found out to be the Daxing district. Even though the authorities said that two people had tested positive for COVID-19, it is speculated that this number may not be credible as China's mass testing had shown many problems earlier.

It seems that China has certainly not defeated the virus entirely as new cases emerged in Beijing, and local transmission keeps on spreading. Also, asymptomatic spreaders will turn out to be another big issue.

The press in China is reportedly not discussing the new spread of coronavirus. The Global Times barely did any reporting on it, and there is not a lot of background information available about the new infections. Some are blaming the UK strain for this new outbreak, suggesting that the new cases are imported rather than locally transmitted.

By Wednesday (January 20), Beijing had reported seven cases officially. As the number increased to 11 soon after, it became a cause of worry. It seemed that China may have hurried in declaring the victory. 

China is also tracking everyone who entered the city from December 10 onwards and mass testing was ordered. As per the government's orders, the cities with a population of less than 5 million were required to complete mass testing in two days, and cities with a larger population were required to do it between three to five days.

The local authorities are enforcing strict lockdown measures. Even though the lockdown is partial at the moment, many residents in Daxing couldn't leave Beijing. In a viral video, a local official is seen tying a man to a tree and abusing him for stepping out during the lockdown. The said official has since been suspended, according to reports.

China's top epidemiologist George Fu Gao called the new outbreak in Hebei a 'Mini-Wuhan.'

"It is not so large as in Wuhan... But still has local outbreaks," he said in an interview. He further added that he was cautiously optimistic, but he would not take it lightly.

The lunar new year celebrations are expected to be cancelled in China this year. There are new curbs on gatherings and movement of people. Migrant workers are required to show a negative COVID-19 test for their movement. There are reports that workers were supposed to pay for it themselves.

It is a reminder of the difficulties the people in China had to deal with last year.