Approximately 108 million people in China’s northeast region are being put back under lockdown conditions as a new and growing cluster of COVID-19 infections causes a major setback in the nation’s return to normal.
Bloomberg news reports:
In an abrupt reversal of the re-opening taking place across the nation, cities in Jilin province have cut off trains and buses, shut schools and quarantined tens of thousands of people. The strict measures have dismayed many residents who had thought the worst of the nation’s epidemic was over.
While the cluster of 34 infections isn’t growing as quickly the outbreak in Wuhan which started the global pandemic last December, China’s swift and powerful reaction reflects its fear of a second wave after it curbed the virus’s spread at great economic and social cost. It’s also a sign of how fragile the re-opening process will be in China and elsewhere as even the slightest hint of a resurgence of infections could prompt a return to strict lockdown.
China still remains vulnerable to the virus because its first wave of infection was largely confined to Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, thanks to a lockdown that sealed the region off from the rest of the country in January.
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