Another lockdown for Wuhan residents

The Chinese city where the world’s first coronavirus cases emerged has plunged residents into another lockdown after just four asymptomatic cases were identified.

One million people in Wuhan — about a tenth of the population — have been told not to leave their homes for the next three days as authorities roll out mass testing.

Public transport in the district of Jiangxia has been halted, restaurants, internet cafes, bars and theatres have shut their doors, and large gatherings have been banned.

China has adopted a “zero-covid” policy with almost 90 per cent of the population now fully vaccinated.

But only domestic vaccines are allowed which provide less protection than the shots developed by overseas pharmaceutical firms such as Pfizer and Moderna.

Tightly enforced snap lockdowns have also meant that China is far from developing natural herd immunity.

That leaves the country of 1.4 billion people at risk of contracting newer, more contagious variants of Covid.

Shanghai, China’s largest city, with a population of 26 million, was locked down for two months in the spring.

Residents are experiencing dj vu, with people saying this year is not 2022, but rather “2020 too”.

Nearly three years after Wuhan became the world’s first city to institute a lockdown — with millions shuttered in their homes for 76 days — there is little indication that Beijing will make an about-turn on its Covid policy.

In China’s major cities, having valid negative results for the last 72 hours has become a must in order to go about daily life.

Mandatory mass testing and restrictions on business activity have become the norm as authorities seek to continually identify and isolate cases to stop the virus spreading.

The strategy has helped Wuhan and other areas in the country to keep the number of cases in check, but harsh lockdowns are reported to have dented the economy, business confidence and people’s willingness to travel.

During a tour of Wuhan last month Xi Jinping, China’s President, said the country will “strive to reach a relatively good level of economic development this year”, dropping previous calls that it will aim to meet its 2022 growth target.

Telegraph Group Ltd