Xi’an Prepares For 4th Round Of Citywide Testing As China Sees Cases Surge To 21-Month High

Much to the chagrin of the CCP, the fourth wave of SARS-CoV-2 has stubbornly refused to subside over in China, the country from which the virus emerged from a laboratory source with eyebrow-raising connections to some of the top public health policy leaders in the US, including Dr. Anthony Fauci.

The city of Xi’an, the capital of Shaanxi Province in northwestern China, has seen its 13M people locked down for roughly a week now. Since Dec. 21, the city has already completed three rounds of city-wide testing. And now, it’s gearing up for a fourth as the CCP signals to its citizens that it expects the outbreak to end some time in January.

The process will use nucleic acid tests.

Of course, it would be impossible for Beijing to cover up the mass testing, lockdowns and other aspects of its “warlike” approach to combating COVID. So it’s forced to offer up at least some information to its people and the world.

Whether the numbers are believable are not, official sources said 155 domestic cases were detected Saturday, the largest daily tally in China in 21 months, all due to the outbreak in Xi’an. That brought the country’s total to 101,077 (if that looks suspiciously low, that’s because it is). No new deaths were reported, leaving the country’s death toll at 4,636.

In Xi’an officials have confirmed 485 local symptomatic cases reported for the Dec. 9 to Dec. 25 period. The city has imposed heavy-handed measures to rein in the outbreak, in line with Beijing’s policy that any flare-up should be contained as soon as possible.

Beijing has reportedly only a few confirmed omicron infections in travelers in southern China. So far, none of the cases in Xi’an have been attributed to omicron.

In addition to the latest round of testing, Reuters reports that the local government also announced that it would launch a city-wide disinfection campaign from 18:00 local time, urging residents to shut the windows and bring clothes or other items inside from their balconies.

If the outbreak in Xi’an continues for as long as the government expects, it would still be one of the most stubborn outbreaks since Wuhan. Which means the people of Xi’an might be left to suffer through a much longer lockdown than other cities have seen (though Wuhan famously suffered through a 70+-day lockdown that set the tone for lockdown policies in countries like the US, Ausstralia and around the world.