Beijing has imposed a partial lockdown, banning more than one million of its residents to leave the city after the deadly mutated coronavirus strain was identified in two cases. This newly identified mutated coronavirus strain is the same as detected in the UK.
China started its pandemic response early after the virus first emerged in Wuhan city nearly one year ago. The capital experienced less than 5000 deaths by the coronavirus because of the timely response and effective control strategies.
Now, these local authorities have re-imposed a partial lockdown restricting the residents to leave the city and starting the mass testing plans along with some other travel restrictions.
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As the Lunar New Year in China is approaching, the government official is all set to save the residents from a potential breakout in the coming days. The two cases reported earlier in Beijing have revealed the presence of the mutated coronavirus from the UK in China.
According to health experts, these mutated variants of coronavirus are highly transmissible and deadlier than the original strain. Both of these cases have not shown any genetic link with the local cases, reported before.
Beijing, which is the capital of China and a home to millions of people might suffer the most if this deadly variant starts to spread among the population. 1.6 million people living in the Daxing area under a lockdown and they can not leave the city unless there is an emergency and they have attained special permission granted by the local authorities. They also require to be tested negative against the virus to get this permission to leave the city.
All five neighborhoods of these recent Covid-19 cases are also warned and advised to isolate. The capital has also banned any gathering which includes more than 50 people. Communal events like weddings or funerals are also shortened as per government rules. All the schools inside the district are closed and students will take classes at home.
There are two international airports in the city which is why the local government has imposed travel restrictions to control the viral spread.
Interestingly, the country has shown good progress to keep the pandemic under control while the rest of the countries are still battling and mourning over Covid-19 deaths. The hospitals are overburdened and health systems are collapsing but each day is reporting a drastic increase in Covid-19 cases.
China started mass testing during the first wave of coronavirus and imposed strict lockdown to control the transmission. The government arranged thousands of quarantine centers and did everything to prevent this pandemic from becoming worse.
On Wednesday, China has reported nearly 103 new Covid-19 cases, 7 out of which were reported from Beijing.
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The upcoming Lunar Year celebrations may cause an increase in the daily Covid-19 cases. Nearly 40 million people are expected to route during this festival. However, the National Health Commission has issued a new rule of being tested negative within 7 days before traveling before lunar year celebrations.
Most countries experienced a high increase in daily Covid-19 cases after the Christmas and New Year holidays. It is expected that the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations would be no different. Yet the government is trying everything to control the potential cases.
