China: ‘Positive’ signs as Xi’an COVID cases ease

China: ‘Positive’ signs as Xi’an COVID cases ease

BEIJING: New COVID-19 cases in the locked-down Chinese city of Xi’an fell to their lowest in a week, health officials said yesterday, as residents face their eleventh day under strict home confinement. China has followed a “zero Covid” approach involving tight border restrictions and swift, targeted lockdowns since the virus first surfaced in a central city in late 2019 – but this strategy has been put under pressure in recent weeks with a number of local outbreaks and cases remaining stubbornly high.

There were 122 fresh infections reported yesterday in the historic northern city – the lowest since Dec 25, and down from 174 on Saturday. Zhang Canyou, from China’s disease control agency, told state broadcaster CCTV that after several rounds of testing in Xi’an and the impact of the lockdown, they had started to see “some positive changes”. “We will also make some adjustments to the prevention and control measures in a timely way,” he said.

However, there are 16 patients in a “severe” condition, according to the National Health Commission. While low compared to numbers elsewhere, new infections in recent days have reached a high not seen in China since March 2020. Since December 9 there have been more than