China orders 51 million into lockdown as COVID surges

Workers set up beds to convert an exhibition centre into a makeshift hospital, following the COVID-19 outbreak in Changchun, Jilin province, China on March 12, 2022.     Photo credit Stringer/via Reuters

HONG KONG — China is facing its worst COVID crisis since early 2020, when the world first witnessed an entire population locked down to contain the coronavirus in Wuhan and its surrounding province.

Two years on, it’s now sending tens of millions of people into lockdown in the entire northeastern province of Jilin, where 24 million people live, and the southern cities of Shenzhen and Dongguan, with 17.5 million and 10 million, respectively.

The epicenter of the omicron variant outbreak is the Northeastern Jilin province, where 895 cases were recorded, but there are also outbreaks and containment measures in place Shanghai, the financial powerhouse, and Shenzhen, the southern tech hub.

The lockdown and outbreaks threaten manufacturing and tech production in Shenzhen, known as China’s Silicon Valley. It’s home to Huawei and Tencent, and is home to one of the country’s key ports.

Navy Vet

Article URL : https://abcnews.go.com/International/china-orders-51-million-lockdown-covid-surges/story?id=83431247