Chinese city on Myanmar border imposes week-long lockdown in response to new coronavirus cluster

The southwestern city of Ruili, which abuts China’s border with Myanmar, has imposed a quarantine and launched a mass testing campaign after new locally transmitted cases of Covid-19 were detected.

Six of the new cases detected in Ruili were Chinese citizens, and three more asymptomatic patients were Myanmar citizens, the health authorities in Yunnan province have said.

Home to some 140,000 people, Ruili effectively forms a single entity with the Burmese city of Muse. To tackle the outbreak, border checks will be ramped up and illegal crossings cracked down on, China said on Wednesday.

Only those who have tested negative for coronavirus within 72 hours will be allowed to leave the urban area, while vehicles and people arriving in the city will be advised to turn back. Ruili residents are required to stay at home for a week-long quarantine, and will not be allowed to leave, except in extraordinary circumstances. Most public venues, with the exception of supermarkets, pharmacies, and farmers’ markets will be closed.

A city-wide coronavirus testing campaign already began in Ruili early on Wednesday. It rolled out similar measures last year, when it faced a handful of Covid-19 cases imported from Myanmar.

China, the first country to detect Covid-19, has repeatedly rolled out strict measures to tackle the virus, putting whole cities and regions into tight lockdowns. The measures allowed the authorities to keep the coronavirus situation under control, with the country having registered only some 100,000 cases since the beginning of the pandemic.

Globally, more than 128 million people have contracted the disease, with some 2.8 million succumbing to it, the latest figures by the US’ Johns Hopkins University show.

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