China is punishing people trying to evade its latest COVID-19 lockdown in Xian as a top official urged "forceful moves” be taken to curb the outbreak in the central city with a population of 13 million.
Vice Premier Sun Chunlan said local authorities need to adopt more "targeted and forceful” measures and improve quarantine controls, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said late Thursday. China reported 166 local confirmed cases for that day, 161 of them in the city.
The situation in Xian is severe and complex, Sun was cited as saying during a visit. Sun, the only woman on the ruling Communist Party’s 25-member Politburo, also called on the government to step up tracing efforts.