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 Xian reported 150 new local symptomatic coronavirus cases for
Sunday, a slight drop from the previous day's 155, and officials
warned that people flouting rules on travel or testing could face
detention and fines.
Case numbers in Xian remain tiny compared with many clusters in
other countries but officials have imposed tough curbs on travel
within the city and on leaving it, in line with a government drive
to immediately contain outbreaks.
Authorities have not announced any infections with the Omicron
variant among the 635 confirmed cases in Xian from Dec. 9 to Sunday.
China has detected only a handful of Omicron infections among
international travellers and in its south.
Nationwide, China reported 162 domestic symptomatic cases for
Sunday, up from 158 a day earlier. It marks the highest count since
the official daily bulletin started to classify asymptomatic
carriers separately at the end of March last year.
Since last week, Xian residents have not been allowed to leave the
city without permission from their employer or authorities.
From Monday, no vehicles are allowed on the roads unless they are
for virus control or for people's livelihoods and violators could
face up to 10 days in police detention and 500 yuan ($78.48) fines.
The city told residents on Monday not to leave home unless they are
giving samples in a new round of citywide testing. People in less
risky areas would be allowed out to buy necessities if the testing
is negative, the city government said.
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 Anyone who refuses to follow
the rules during testing, including keeping a
metre away from each other in queues, could also
face detention and a fine, police said.
Xian has also launched a city-wide disinfection
campaign, with workers spraying pathogen-killing
solutions onto roads and buildings.
Dongyan Jin, a virologist at the University of
Hong Kong, said the mass disinfection of outdoor
air and surfaces seemed unnecessary given the
low risk of people catching COVID-19 from
outdoor surfaces or the air with so few people
outside.
"This is shooting mosquitoes with cannon," said
Jin, though he said he believed disinfection of
indoor surfaces, especially in places visit by
infected people, was necessary.
Infections have also been found in two other
cities in Shaanxi province - the same province
as Xian - and in the Guangxi region and the
provinces of Zhejiang, Guangdong and Sichuan.
(Reporting by Roxanne Liu and Gabriel Crossley;
Editing by Himani Sarkar, Kenneth Maxwell and
Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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