Array
Authorities in southwestern China’s Chengdu have maintained strict Covid-19 lockdown measures on the city of 21 million despite a big earthquake that killed at least 65 people in the region.
Footage circulating online on Tuesday showed workers wearing top-to-bottom protective gear preventing residents of apartment buildings from exiting through locked lobby doors after the previous day’s 6.8 magnitude quake centered in the surrounding province of Sichuan.
The quake struck a mountainous area in Luding county, which sits on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau roughly 200km (125 miles) from Chengdu, where tectonic plates grind up against each other.
Despite only recording a handful of cases, Chengdu’s lockdown is the most severe since China’s largest city of Shanghai was placed in isolation over the summer, prompting rare protests in person and online.
In all, 65 million Chinese in 33 cities including seven provincial capitals are now under varying levels of lockdown while the government is discouraging domestic travel during approaching national holidays.
Outbreaks have been reported in 103 cities, the highest since the early days of the pandemic in early 2020.
Most Chengdu residents are confined to their apartments or residential complexes.
