As COVID-19 spreads, China locks down millions more people.

As it confronts its largest Covid-19 epidemic in two years, China issued fresh stay-at-home
orders on Sunday to millions more individuals in the country's northeast.
Since bringing the virus under control in 2020 with targeted lockdowns, mass testing, and travel
restrictions, the country has largely kept the illness at bay. However, in recent months, the
Omicron strain has burst past its defenses and taken root in a number of places.
Local authorities have stated that Jilin, the province's second-largest city, will be shut down for
three days starting Monday night. On Sunday, China reported more than 4,000 new illnesses,
with two-thirds of them in Jilin province, which borders Russia and North Korea.
Changchun, the capital of Jilin province, announced on Saturday that restrictions would be
tightened for three days.
Changchun's nine million residents have only been permitted out once every two days to buy
food since March 11.
Only medical personnel and other anti-epidemic workers will be allowed to leave their houses
under the new regulations. Shenzhen is home to some of China's largest tech companies, so
any business restrictions will have a substantial financial impact. China reported its first two
Covid-related deaths in over a year on Saturday. In other parts of the world, tens of millions of
people are on lockdown, and officials are scrambling to fill hospital beds, fearful that the
outbreak would strain the healthcare system. Eight temporary hospitals and two quarantine
centers have been erected in Jilin province.
Tangshan, a city east of Beijing, restricted driving for 24 hours on Sunday in an attempt to slow
the virus' spread — and will test all of its 7.7 million residents.