China Extends Lockdown As COVID-19 Spike In Chengdu

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After a rise in COVID-19 cases, China extended a weeklong lockdown in China. Even though the COVID zero strategy is becoming more expensive for the country, China has decided to protect its people from the levels of virus fatalities.

Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province and home to 21 million people, is the largest city to be shut down since Shanghai's agonising two-month lockdown earlier this year. On Wednesday, it reported 116 local cases, down from 121 on Tuesday. Authorities promised to stop community virus transmission within a week and stated mass testing will continue.

China saw a rise in COVID cases on Wednesday, making for a month in which more than 1,000 infections per day were reported. Although little in comparison to the number of people living with Covid in other areas of the world, it is significant for a system that is still looking for infections and attempting to get rid of the virus.

As officials continue to enforce a goal of eliminating Covid cases, increasingly contagious virus strains are forcing China to lock down more regularly. More major cities have been closed across the nation in 2022 than at any other point during the pandemic, with Shanghai's protracted lockdown serving as a warning to other cities about delaying taking decisive action for too long.