New Covid emergency in China. The authorities have extended the lockdown in the north of the country to other hundreds of thousands of people to contain a wave of infections that has reached the highest level in the last 21 months and which already forces millions of citizens into isolation.

In the past 24 hours, the city of Xi'an, with its 13 million inhabitants in lockdown for six days, has registered 209 new cases, the highest daily level since March 2020.

The new wave of infections, albeit modest compared to the volume of cases recorded in Europe and the United States, has prompted the authorities to impose the "most severe" measures possible in the northern metropolis.

The outbreak that hit Xi'an is rapidly spreading to neighboring cities: the authorities in Yan'an - which is about 300 kilometers from Xi'an - closed the city's commercial activities today and ordered hundreds of thousands of residents. in a district to stay at home.

(Unioneonline / vl)