From the threat of a young man pandemic wavemany Chinese cities, including Shanghai and Shenzhen, introduce restrictive measures and strengthen diagnostic tests. China’s health authorities reported 2,089 domestic cases of COVID-19 on Monday, a significant increase from recent days. Already, municipal authorities in several cities have reintroduced restrictions, such as the closure of schools, sports and cultural facilities, and places that are a magnet for tourists.

Yesterday’s number of cases is the highest recorded in the country since August. A few days ago, there was a large influx of tourists due to China’s National Day, which celebrates the founding of the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949, and the Golden Week that followed.

Most of the cases are found in tourist resorts, even in the most remote, such as the idyllic landscapes of Inner Mongolia in northern China, as well as in metropolitan areas.

Memories in Shanghai

In Shanghai, which recorded a double-digit number of cases on Monday, memories of a previous lockdown that lasted from February to August are resurfacing, driving residents and businesses to despair.

The city of 25 million reported 28 cases on Monday, enough for authorities to go on a war footing. So, it was immediately announced that in all 16 regions of the economic center of China until November 10, residents will be tested for coronavirus twice a week. After the quarantine was lifted, in August, until today, the tests of residents were checked once a week. Chinese authorities have also announced increased screening of travelers from abroad.

Since the start of the week, 38 Chinese cities have imposed some form of restrictions or controls, affecting 169.7 million people. In China’s technology hub, Shenzhen, where the hypertransmissible submutation of Omicron, BF-7, was discovered, cases are multiplying at breakneck speed. Those entering the city are already undergoing three tests over three days. In the northwestern city of Xi’an, where 100 cases were reported in the first decade of October, authorities closed many public places, including the Terracotta Warriors Museum. Daily bus transportation of workers from Tianjin to Beijing was suspended today due to a new outbreak of the pandemic. The official newspaper of the Communist Party of China, the People’s Daily, justifying the resumption of measures, states that “if the pandemic repeats on a large scale, the coronavirus will spread, and this will have adverse consequences for both economic and social development. The final price will be much higher, and the losses will be greater.”

Western analysts believe that the new restrictions, imposed just a few days before the October 16 National People’s Congress meeting to extend the term of President Xi Jinping, will be temporary, so everything will be under control until the conference starts.