Chinese City Locked Down and Hospitals Shut Amid Growing CCP Virus Outbreak

After a CCP virus outbreak in Qingdao city, eastern China, authorities are scrambling to contain infections by locking down neighborhoods and requiring COVID-19 testing for all residents. On October 12, the government locked down residential compounds where diagnosed patients live. It also designated the neighborhood where the Qingdao Chest Hospital is located as a “medium-risk region” for virus spread. Six million residents who live in the Shinan, Shibei, Licang, Laoshan, and Chengyang districts were required to take COVID-19 nucleic acid testing. On the evening of October 12, residents began lining up. The city had announced 12 CCP virus infections earlier in the day, but gave no other details about the outbreak. While the true scale of the current outbreak is unclear, as local authorities are known to underreport cases in order to downplay crises, the city has closed off at least three hospitals in anticipation of an uptick in COVID-19 infections. And, although the city didn’t announce a full lockdown, air flights were canceled at Qingdao’s only airport. State-run newspaper Beijing Daily reported that 26 flights were canceled on October 12, and more than 110 flights were canceled on October 13. The report alerted travelers that more flights were expected to be canceled. Qingdao, a coastal city in Shandong Province, is home to about 9.5 million people, according to the city’s official statistics.