Xinjiang under COVID lockdown as Party Congress looms

Xinjiang authorities on Tuesday suspended all travel services out of the region to stop the spread of COVID, just a few weeks after emerging from a monthslong lockdown that caused public outcry over shortages in food and other critical supplies.

All outbound trains, interprovincial buses, and most flights will be suspended until further notice, while stronger control measures will be imposed in airports, train stations, and other checkpoints to prevent the virus from spreading to other parts of the country.

• Xinjiang logged 91 asymptomatic cases on Wednesday morning, per the National Health Commision.
• Xinjiang accounted for 243 of 861 asymptomatic cases in China yesterday.
• The airport in the regional capital of Urumqi had 97% of departing flights and 95% of arriving flights canceled on Wednesday, according to flight tracking company Variflight per CNN.
• All departing flights from Xinjiang’s second-largest airport in the southern town of Kashgar were canceled, except for two heading to Urumqi.
• “This is a major public health emergency with the fastest spread, the broadest scope, the largest number of infections, and it is the most difficult in terms of prevention and control in the history of Xinjiang,” Liú Sūshè 刘苏社, vice chairman of the region, said.
• In September, there were media reports of people, especially Uyghurs, going hungry and even starving to death because of COVID lockdowns

The upcoming 20th Congress of the Communist Party looms over everything: On October 16, what may be the world’s most important gathering of the year begins in Beijing, where Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 is expected to lock in a norm-changing third term in power. The Party is dead set on ensuring that COVID will remain under control for the twice-a-decade political reshuffle, despite an uptick in cases during China’s Golden Week holiday.

• Xinjiang’s vice-chairman Liu said that Xinjiang would make sure to “create a favorable environment” for the 20th Party congress
• Party Secretary of Inner Mongolia, Sūn Shàochéng 孙绍骋, said on Saturday that authorities would stamp out transmissions by “killing chickens with a knife for slaughtering cows” — in other words go to excessive lengths to make absolutely sure something happens (殺雞用牛刀).
• Hundreds of tourists were stranded in the airport in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province after the prefecture went into lockdown on Tuesday.
• Tourists visiting Sanya on Hainan island started to flee the vacation destination, after authorities ordered travelers to take PCR tests or risk a yellow health code that restricts their movements.

See also:

• As crackdown eases, China’s Xinjiang faces long road to rehabilitation / Washington Post (paywall)