China expands lockdowns as Covid cases climb

Many Xi'an residents have taken to social media to call for help in acquiring food and other essentials

Hundreds of thousands more people were ordered to stay home in northern China Tuesday, joining millions under strict lockdown as authorities raced to contain a surge in Covid cases that have reached a 21-month high.

China -- where the virus emerged two years ago -- has followed a "zero-Covid" strategy of tight border restrictions, lengthy quarantines and targeted lockdowns as Beijing prepares to welcome thousands of overseas visitors to February's Winter Olympics.

The surge -- while low in comparison to rampant cases in Europe and the United States -- has prompted authorities to impose what they have called the "strictest" possible curbs in the northern city of Xi'an, whose 13 million residents are entering a sixth day of home confinement.

The Xi'an lockdown is the most sweeping in China since the similarly-sized Wuhan was sealed off.

- 'There's no food' -

"I'm about to be starved to death," wrote one person on the Weibo site. 

"I don't want to hear any more news about how everything is fine," said another. 

Authorities have insisted that supplies remain stable as they maintain strict controls on movement into and out of Xi'an.

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