• There were more than 1,000 new COVID cases nationwide for the third day in a row.
• The highly contagious Omicron variant has had a significant negative impact on the world’s second-largest economy and roiled the financial markets.

In an effort to stop spreading outbreaks, Chinese cities from Wuhan in the center of the country to Xining in the northwest are stepping up COVID-19 limits, closing off buildings, and shutting down entire districts.

China said on Thursday that there had been more than 1,000 new COVID cases nationwide for the third day in a row, a low number compared to the tens of thousands per day that put Shanghai under complete lockdown earlier this year, but still enough to warrant tighter restrictions throughout the nation.

Although China’s COVID caseload has remained modest by international standards, this year’s extremely stringent containment measures against the highly contagious Omicron variant have had a significant negative impact on the world’s second-largest economy, roiled the financial markets, and infuriated the populace.

In response to a COVID revival that has persisted for more than a week, Guangzhou, the provincial capital of Guangdong and China’s fourth-largest metropolis by economic output, blocked off more streets and neighborhoods on Thursday and kept residents inside their houses.

Wuhan, where the first COVID-19 outbreak in the globe occurred in late 2019, only reported 20 to 25 new illnesses daily this week. However, local officials mandated that over 800,000 residents of one region remain at home until October 30.

Images and posts on social media indicate that several areas of Wuhan also stopped selling pork after authorities said a COVID case was connected to the regional pork supply chain.

As health officials in the 2.5 million-person city rushed to contain a COVID comeback after the week-long National Day holiday in early October, social media posts in Xining, the capital of Qinghai province, warned of food shortages and price inflation for necessities.

A government official from Xining announced on Wednesday that “certain vegetable and fruit markets have been closed and put under quarantine to decrease the danger of transmission.”

This week, further limitations were put in place in Zhengzhou, Datong, and Xian, three more significant Chinese cities, to control regional breakouts.

After at least one tourist tested positive for COVID on Wednesday, the Universal Resort theme park in Beijing was forced to close.

China has frequently vowed to adhere to its policy of COVID zero-tolerance and take the steps that the authorities deem necessary to suppress the infection.

The maintenance of the strict zero-COVID policy has further stoked public rage.

Hundreds of thousands of comments and irate calls for a thorough investigation after a video posted on social media last week that appeared to show a severely ill adolescent being ignored at a COVID-19 quarantine facility in Henan province.

In spite of mounting public discontent and the negative effects on the economy, Chinese President Xi Jinping has vowed to uphold the strict zero-COVID policy.

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