Henan province in central China has locked down one of its counties, to avoid a second wave of coronavirus from sweeping into the area.
A shelter-in-place order began Tuesday for Jia county, which has a population of nearly 600,000 people.
A Jia county notice stated that residents can only leave their homes with special permits and can only travel if their temperatures have been taken and their wearing masks.
Chinese President Xi Jinping recently inspected the Zhejiang province and cautioned that the country needs to ease back into reintegration, to prevent a recurrence of the pandemic that has infected more than 82,000 of its citizens, including over 3,300 death.
Gabriel Leung, a University of Hong Kong infectious-disease researcher, said, “The tension between health, protecting the economy and emotional well-being will vex every government for the foreseeable future.” He warns that China might be due for another lockdown, to curb the spread of coronavirus even more.
Businesses in the county have been shuttered as well, except food processors, medical suppliers, logistics companies, and utilities.
Following months of restrictions, Chinese officials have reported a decrease in the number of coronavirus cases. The National Health Commission reported that 35 of its 36 new infections were imported from other countries.
Wang Xiao, 23, said officials in her villages told people to buy vegetables and other necessities in preparation for the quarantine. They also told her that every family can choose one person to leave their home to buy groceries every two days.
“I’m worried because it’s so close to me,” she said. “The hospital is only about 1.2 miles from my home. I had no idea that there were confirmed cases [of infection],” Xiao told the South China Morning Post.
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