Chinese city of nine million locked down after Omicron outbreak
China's relentless Covid-zero strategy rolls on with the lockdown of nine million people.
The entire city of Changchun in China's northeast is now facing stringent restrictions after its province Jilin recorded more than 1000 cases in a fresh outbreak of the virus. However cases in the city itself are far lower.
The Omicron variant is proving difficult for China to suppress, yet Beijing's unrelenting approach continues for now.
In a similar order seen in Hong Kong earlier this year, residents must undergo a round of three Covid tests, while just one person can leave a residence once every two days to buy essential goods.
Non-essential businesses have been closed while public transport has been significantly reduced.
The cases, as well as a spate of other outbreaks dotted around the country has led to other restrictions, including in Shanghai where schools have been closed and restrictions placed on public venues including Disneyland.
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Daily infections across China have now topped 1,500 – the most since the Covid-19's emergence in Wuhan over two years ago.
While China's resolve has been unwavering when it comes to Covid, top Chinese scientist Zeng Guang last month admitted China's tactics cannot "remain unchanged forever" and Beijing's long-term goal was to eventually "co-exist" with the virus.
He said Beijing would be able to "observe and learn" from other countries living with the virus.
Amid the wave of new infections, Chinese state media has pleaded with residents to not cut corners when it came to restrictions.
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In an extreme move, China recently announced all incoming overseas parcels would be swabbed for Covid, with some even opened and its contents subject to testing.
Professor Ian Mackay, a virologist at the University of Queensland, told Yahoo News Australia he believed such a measure "isn't a justifiable use of resources".
"We know the main route of transmission — it's via aerosols. Little to no evidence exists that surfaces like these play any significant role in human infection," he said.
China has long pointed to transmission via surfaces and frozen goods despite experts largely dismissing the significance of such transmission.
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