In China, netizens protest against COVID-19 lockdown curbs in Xi'an city

In order to combat the COVID-19 outbreak in the Chinese city of Xi'an, officials have instructed the citizens to stay at home. To protest against the lockdown restrictions, netizens took China's microblogging website to write about the variety of problems they are experiencing, including a lack of food in their homes and financial troubles due to a lack of jobs in Xi'an city. According to credible statistics, in spite of many hashtags and posts on the website Weibo, Xi'an inhabitants are unable to purchase groceries and other things for their daily requirements. 

Furthermore, despite promises from different state institutions, Xi'an residents have stepped out and begged for assistance during this round of lockdown, ANI reported. After the Xi'an government's anti-epidemic command declared that widespread cleaning had started on Sunday afternoon, videos and photos of disinfection teams working on the streets of Xi'an circulated online.  

Anti-epidemic command advised public to shut their windows before city-wide cleaning

In addition to this, many internet users said that sanitizing the whole city lacked scientific backing and went against the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) anti-epidemic guidelines, which states that disinfection should be limited to areas where persons infected with COVID-19 had been. Before commencing the city-wide cleaning, the anti-epidemic command advised the public to shut their windows, remove garments from clotheslines, and avoid contacting the outside edges of buildings and plants. Teams in Xi'an were seen sanitising streets near the city's monument, the Drum Tower, in videos. 

COVID cases in China

Following the discovery of the COVID-19 cluster in the region earlier on Wednesday, China imposed broad restrictions on the total 13 million citizens of Xi'an city. 155 verified locally transmitted COVID-19 instances have been recorded in Xi'an, the capital of China's Shaanxi province. 

Meanwhile, China has recorded 166 new domestically transmitted COVID-19 infections on Thursday, according to local media on Friday. According to the National Health Commission report, 165 new local cases were detected in Shaanxi and one in Shanxi. As per the commission, 29 additional imported instances were also recorded in ten provincial-level locations. Meanwhile, as per Worldometers, over 102,083 individuals have been affected by the disease in the nation since the outbreak, and more than 4,636 people have lost their lives due to Coronavirus.