Chinese Regime Announces 1st COVID-19 Lockdown in Year of Tiger

Chinese Regime Announces 1st COVID-19 Lockdown in Year of Tiger
Residents queue to undergo nucleic acid tests for COVID-19 in Anyang in central China's Henan Province on Jan. 26, 2022. STR/AFP via Getty Images
Nicole Hao
Updated:
0:00

The Chinese regime announced its first lockdown in the Chinese year of the Tiger on Feb. 7 as a method to curb an outbreak of COVID-19.

From Monday, all residents in Baise city in Guangxi Province were ordered not to leave their homes.

The Baise city said in a notice that the variant of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as novel coronavirus, found in Baise was Omicron.
“Nobody can leave or enter our city. We can’t leave home. All public transportation has stopped,” Yun Fei, a resident of Baise’s Debao county told the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times on Feb. 7.

Worried that the CCP virus has spread to other cities from Baise, the Chinese regime has also taken measures in nearby cities.

“The atmosphere is intense. Some roads are blocked, and the intercity buses have stopped,” a resident surnamed Zhao from Nanning, the province’s capital that is 165 miles away from Baise, also told The Epoch Times. “Some residential compounds have started to test all residents, and there are long lines in front of hospitals of people waiting for tests.”

A resident undergoes a nucleic acid test for COVID-19 in Hangzhou in eastern China's Zhejiang Province on Jan. 27, 2022. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)
A resident undergoes a nucleic acid test for COVID-19 in Hangzhou in eastern China's Zhejiang Province on Jan. 27, 2022. STR/AFP via Getty Images

Baise city announced on Monday that it will lock down the city and citizens will be quarantined at home.

From the early morning, no schools and training organizations can operate in the city, while all businesses, except supermarkets, farmers’ markets, hospitals, and pharmacies, are not allowed to operate.

The personnel who work for the pandemic control, health support, and medicare staff must apply for a special pass that will allow them to travel inside the city. After obtaining the pass, these personnels can’t travel from one county to another one, or from one township to another one.

The announcement didn’t mention how trucks will be able to ship goods from outside to Baise, nor between different counties and townships.

After the lockdown, more residents were identified as close contacts of COVID-19 patients and sent to quarantine centers.

“Our hotel has been changed into a quarantine center, and will start to receive quarantined people tomorrow,” a staff member of Kuaijie Hotel in Debao county told the Chinese-language edition of The Epoch Times on Monday. “I can’t tell you how many were diagnosed with COVID-19 in our city, nor how many people will be sent here for quarantine tomorrow.”

A staff member from Baise’s Bama Airport said in a phone interview that all flights would be canceled from Feb. 8.

Baise is home to 3.57 million people, according to the 2020 census. In 1929, the CCP launched successful riots in Baise, which helped it take over the country in 1949.

A resident undergoes a nucleic acid test for COVID-19 in Anyang in central China's Henan Province on Jan. 26, 2022. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)
A resident undergoes a nucleic acid test for COVID-19 in Anyang in central China's Henan Province on Jan. 26, 2022. STR/AFP via Getty Images

The Chinese regime has locked down more regions due to COVID-19 outbreaks.

On Feb. 7, part of the cities of Beijing, Tianjin, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou from southern China’s Guangdong Province, Heihe from northeastern China’s Heilongjiang Province, Hangzhou from eastern China’s Zhejiang Province, Yuzhou from central China’s Henan Province, and Hengshui from northern China’s Hebei Province were locked down. Local transmission was reported in Guangxi, Guangdong, Beijing, and Tianjin.

Hong Ning contributed to this report.
Nicole Hao
Nicole Hao
Author
Nicole Hao is a Washington-based reporter focused on China-related topics. Before joining the Epoch Media Group in July 2009, she worked as a global product manager for a railway business in Paris, France.
Related Topics