US Politics | China plunges 210MILLION people across 28 cities into lockdown as two ‘highly contagious’ variants emerge
MORE than 200million people are facing a fresh lockdown in China as the Communist Party rollout draconian new restrictions despite just a handful of cases. Some 28 cities \- including the virus's ground zero Wuhan \- are now under a wave of crippling new measures. 
Data released to The Sun Online economic analysis firm Nomura shows 208million people are currently living under some level of lockdown in China. It is believed two highly contagious subvariant of Omicron \- BF.7 and BA.5.1.7 \- are responsible for the recent spike in cases. China officials have described the variants as ...highly contagious... as they can also infect people who had been previously immune. ...According to government statistics and our survey, 28 cities arecurrently implementing various levels of lockdown or some kind of district-based control measures,... said Nomura. READ MORE ON CHINA 
STY-SCRAPER Inside China's 26 STOREY pig farm skyscraper that processes 100k tons of meat 
BURNING BRIGHT China fires up 'artificial sun' reactor with plan to hit 150 MILLION degrees Nomura added the total number of people under restrictions has actually fallen from the previous week's figures of 225million. But the strictest of the lockdowns has actually increased and is now impacting 8.5 per cent of China's GDP. The seven-day-moving average of cases also dropped from 1,333 to 820. Beijing officials however considered this relatively low caseload in a country of 1.4billion enough to plunge millions in lockdown. Most read in US News CODED CALL Inside Paul Pelosi's 911 call to cops as attacker's 'disturbing' emails revealed WAR OF WORDS Moment missing girl's dad claims cops are 'playing games' during interrogation BOMBSHELL LEAD Man arrested in connection with Delphi murders after 2 teens killed on trail CALLOUS RESPONSE Adam Montgomery captured smoking and complaining of 'excessive' response FREAK ACCIDENTS Horror theme park deaths of two electrocuted and one thrown 60ft from ride HOME ASSAULT Pelosi's husband hurt in 'hammer attack by assailant who asked where's Nancy' More than three times the population of the whole UK is currently living under restrictions in China. Wuhan yesterday joined the 27 other cities after registering just 240 cases over the last two weeks. The city was the site of the world's first Covid outbreak \- sounding the alarm to the World Health Organisation (WHO) on December 31, 2019. The outbreak then spiraled into a global pandemic that has so far killed more than 6.5million people and infected 635million. Beijing is taking a no-tolerance approach to the virus \- enforcing the new rules after just 20 to 25 new infections a day this week. Chinese leader Xi Jinping \- who was this week made ...Emperor for Life... \- is continuing to roll out what has been dubbed as the ...world's strictest lockdown.... Cops wearing hazmat suits and wielding machine guns have been brutally enforcing the rules. Quarantine camps, food shortages. cops seizing people's homes, tags on Covid patients, and drones policing the streets have all been seen across China. If they open up now, there will be a major outbreak immediately Jin Dongyan And yet the caseload in China is claimed to have been comparatively low throughout the entirety of the pandemic. The most they ever suffered was on February 12, 2020, with 14,108 new cases \- and the most they faced this year was 5,659 on April 29. Britain meanwhile recorded an all-time daily case figure of 275,647 on January 5, 2022 \- which is higher than what China claims is its all-time case figure over the last 1,031 days of 258,398. And yet the UK has not felt the need to impose any full-scale restrictions since the middle of 2021. China's draconian response to the virus has raised the spectre of a return to the potential for rising cases around the world as we head into the winter months. But the West has rolled out much more effective vaccination programs, making countries such as Britain better equipped to deal with any spikes in infections. China appears to be pursuing a national policy of self-isolation as the Communist Party have made Covid Zero its flagship plan. Xi doubled down on the policy in a recent speech \- and vowed all measures are due to stay for the foreseeable future. 
EPAA medical worker takes a swab sample from a woman to be tested for the Covid-19 in Beijing '/ ' 
EPAPeople stand in line for Coronavirus PCR test in Shanghai '/ ' He has claimed his plans are about saving people's lives. China has not recorded a single Covid death since May \- and from April 2020 to April 2022 it only recorded six deaths. Is this a sign of the success of Xi's policies, or a sign of the Chinese state's overreaction? Wuhan was the guinea pig as China pioneered the idea of ...lockdowns... \- with the 76-day shutdown becoming the template followed by cities from London to New York to Melbourne. Xi's refusal to abandon his plan has been credited with causing deep economic damage \- and for stoking rare open unrest in China. Covid Zero has been described in some reports as a ...trap of its own making... for the Communist Party. Virologist Jin Dongyan, from Hong Kong University, told The Washington Post: ...If they open up now, there will be a major outbreak immediately. ...However, even if they do not open up, a major outbreak will sooner or later arise somewhere.... The scientists added the approach is ...not sustainable... and ...someone has made the wrong judgment.... ...They wrongly assessed the situation in the world, and they cannot come out from their own comfort zone,... he said. It was suggested the latest Covid cases in Wuhan could have been linked to the sale of meat. And this matches with the theory that may have first emerged from Wuhan's now-infamous Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. The first cases of the virus were centered on the wet market in downtown Wuhan which was packed with live animals for sale. It is suggested the virus could have jumped from one species to another before then mutating to infect humans. Some have cast heavy doubt on this theory, however \- instead pointing fingers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). WIV was home to various bat-based coronaviruses, and it's been suggested the infection could have escaped or been carried out by a sick worker. China has always angrily denied these allegations \- and the true origins of the virus remain unknown. ...I don't know what to do. If we can still survive living like this then I suppose that's what we'll do,... one Wuhan resident told Reuters. ...When we see these news stories about Covid, we now feel a bit numb. We feel numb to it all. ...We feel more and more numb.... Wuhan was not the only new lockdown in China \- with Guangzhou also being sealed up. People were ordered to stay home in areas that were deemed high risk of Covid resurgence. Guangzhou resident Lily Li, 28, said: ...Many of my friends and coworkers have been under lockdown at home. ...The situation is still unstable. Many places are under lockdown. Classes have stopped and entertainment venues have been suspended too.... And meanwhile, in Xining there have been reports of food shortages and skyrocketing prices. Other recent Covid outbreaks in China has seen the cities of Datong and Xi'an put under new measures. Bejing attraction Universal Studios Resort was also shut down due to a single Covid case, and there were viral cases at a factory in Zhengzhou which makes iPhones. ...Once there's a case somewhere, and then you become a close contact, you've got to be in quarantine,... said Beijing resident Wen Bihan, 26. With a total of 28 cities under some measure of lockdown \- this is impacting a region responsible for $3.5trillion, or 25 per cent, of China's GDP. It stokes fears that Xi's ruthless Covid Zero policies could actually be the doom of his nation. China has recorded a total of 258,000 Covid cases and just over 5,000 deaths \- a small number compared to other nations. Read More on The Sun 
I-RARE Apple releases special iPhone that only certain people are allowed to own Britain meanwhile suffered 192,682 deaths from nearly 24million cases, while the US faces 99million cases and nearly 1.1million deaths. However, there has been major sceptisim about China's figures \- with numerous reports suggesting the Communist Party covered up the true extent of the giant nation's outbreak.
Data released to The Sun Online economic analysis firm Nomura shows 208million people are currently living under some level of lockdown in China. It is believed two highly contagious subvariant of Omicron \- BF.7 and BA.5.1.7 \- are responsible for the recent spike in cases. China officials have described the variants as ...highly contagious... as they can also infect people who had been previously immune. ...According to government statistics and our survey, 28 cities arecurrently implementing various levels of lockdown or some kind of district-based control measures,... said Nomura. READ MORE ON CHINA STY-SCRAPER Inside China's 26 STOREY pig farm skyscraper that processes 100k tons of meat BURNING BRIGHT China fires up 'artificial sun' reactor with plan to hit 150 MILLION degrees Nomura added the total number of people under restrictions has actually fallen from the previous week's figures of 225million. But the strictest of the lockdowns has actually increased and is now impacting 8.5 per cent of China's GDP. The seven-day-moving average of cases also dropped from 1,333 to 820. Beijing officials however considered this relatively low caseload in a country of 1.4billion enough to plunge millions in lockdown. Most read in US News CODED CALL Inside Paul Pelosi's 911 call to cops as attacker's 'disturbing' emails revealed WAR OF WORDS Moment missing girl's dad claims cops are 'playing games' during interrogation BOMBSHELL LEAD Man arrested in connection with Delphi murders after 2 teens killed on trail CALLOUS RESPONSE Adam Montgomery captured smoking and complaining of 'excessive' response FREAK ACCIDENTS Horror theme park deaths of two electrocuted and one thrown 60ft from ride HOME ASSAULT Pelosi's husband hurt in 'hammer attack by assailant who asked where's Nancy' More than three times the population of the whole UK is currently living under restrictions in China. Wuhan yesterday joined the 27 other cities after registering just 240 cases over the last two weeks. The city was the site of the world's first Covid outbreak \- sounding the alarm to the World Health Organisation (WHO) on December 31, 2019. The outbreak then spiraled into a global pandemic that has so far killed more than 6.5million people and infected 635million. Beijing is taking a no-tolerance approach to the virus \- enforcing the new rules after just 20 to 25 new infections a day this week. Chinese leader Xi Jinping \- who was this week made ...Emperor for Life... \- is continuing to roll out what has been dubbed as the ...world's strictest lockdown.... Cops wearing hazmat suits and wielding machine guns have been brutally enforcing the rules. Quarantine camps, food shortages. cops seizing people's homes, tags on Covid patients, and drones policing the streets have all been seen across China. If they open up now, there will be a major outbreak immediately Jin Dongyan And yet the caseload in China is claimed to have been comparatively low throughout the entirety of the pandemic. The most they ever suffered was on February 12, 2020, with 14,108 new cases \- and the most they faced this year was 5,659 on April 29. Britain meanwhile recorded an all-time daily case figure of 275,647 on January 5, 2022 \- which is higher than what China claims is its all-time case figure over the last 1,031 days of 258,398. And yet the UK has not felt the need to impose any full-scale restrictions since the middle of 2021. China's draconian response to the virus has raised the spectre of a return to the potential for rising cases around the world as we head into the winter months. But the West has rolled out much more effective vaccination programs, making countries such as Britain better equipped to deal with any spikes in infections. China appears to be pursuing a national policy of self-isolation as the Communist Party have made Covid Zero its flagship plan. Xi doubled down on the policy in a recent speech \- and vowed all measures are due to stay for the foreseeable future. EPAA medical worker takes a swab sample from a woman to be tested for the Covid-19 in Beijing '/ ' EPAPeople stand in line for Coronavirus PCR test in Shanghai '/ ' He has claimed his plans are about saving people's lives. China has not recorded a single Covid death since May \- and from April 2020 to April 2022 it only recorded six deaths. Is this a sign of the success of Xi's policies, or a sign of the Chinese state's overreaction? Wuhan was the guinea pig as China pioneered the idea of ...lockdowns... \- with the 76-day shutdown becoming the template followed by cities from London to New York to Melbourne. Xi's refusal to abandon his plan has been credited with causing deep economic damage \- and for stoking rare open unrest in China. Covid Zero has been described in some reports as a ...trap of its own making... for the Communist Party. Virologist Jin Dongyan, from Hong Kong University, told The Washington Post: ...If they open up now, there will be a major outbreak immediately. ...However, even if they do not open up, a major outbreak will sooner or later arise somewhere.... The scientists added the approach is ...not sustainable... and ...someone has made the wrong judgment.... ...They wrongly assessed the situation in the world, and they cannot come out from their own comfort zone,... he said. It was suggested the latest Covid cases in Wuhan could have been linked to the sale of meat. And this matches with the theory that may have first emerged from Wuhan's now-infamous Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. The first cases of the virus were centered on the wet market in downtown Wuhan which was packed with live animals for sale. It is suggested the virus could have jumped from one species to another before then mutating to infect humans. Some have cast heavy doubt on this theory, however \- instead pointing fingers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). WIV was home to various bat-based coronaviruses, and it's been suggested the infection could have escaped or been carried out by a sick worker. China has always angrily denied these allegations \- and the true origins of the virus remain unknown. ...I don't know what to do. If we can still survive living like this then I suppose that's what we'll do,... one Wuhan resident told Reuters. ...When we see these news stories about Covid, we now feel a bit numb. We feel numb to it all. ...We feel more and more numb.... Wuhan was not the only new lockdown in China \- with Guangzhou also being sealed up. People were ordered to stay home in areas that were deemed high risk of Covid resurgence. Guangzhou resident Lily Li, 28, said: ...Many of my friends and coworkers have been under lockdown at home. ...The situation is still unstable. Many places are under lockdown. Classes have stopped and entertainment venues have been suspended too.... And meanwhile, in Xining there have been reports of food shortages and skyrocketing prices. Other recent Covid outbreaks in China has seen the cities of Datong and Xi'an put under new measures. Bejing attraction Universal Studios Resort was also shut down due to a single Covid case, and there were viral cases at a factory in Zhengzhou which makes iPhones. ...Once there's a case somewhere, and then you become a close contact, you've got to be in quarantine,... said Beijing resident Wen Bihan, 26. With a total of 28 cities under some measure of lockdown \- this is impacting a region responsible for $3.5trillion, or 25 per cent, of China's GDP. It stokes fears that Xi's ruthless Covid Zero policies could actually be the doom of his nation. China has recorded a total of 258,000 Covid cases and just over 5,000 deaths \- a small number compared to other nations. Read More on The Sun I-RARE Apple releases special iPhone that only certain people are allowed to own Britain meanwhile suffered 192,682 deaths from nearly 24million cases, while the US faces 99million cases and nearly 1.1million deaths. However, there has been major sceptisim about China's figures \- with numerous reports suggesting the Communist Party covered up the true extent of the giant nation's outbreak.
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