Chinese City Yuzhou Follows Xi’an in Stringent Lockdown, Residents Panic Buying Food, Necessities

Residents queue to be swabbed for COVID-19 testing as part of a mass testing programme in Zhengzhou on January 5, 2022. STR/CNS/AFP via Getty Images

China’s central Henan Province ordered Yuzhou City into lockdown on Jan. 3, 2022, after two asymptomatic COVID-19 cases were detected on Jan. 2 and a third on Jan. 3.

Yuzhou is the second city, after Xi’an, now under the most stringent closure measures in China, as residents are banned from leaving home except for COVID-19 testing amid the recent outbreak.