COVID-19 lockdown in China

For broader coverage of this topic, see Chinese government response to COVID-19.
COVID-19 lockdown in China
Part of the COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China
Top: Montage of various scenes in Wuhan during the outbreak
Bottom Map Legend:
  •   Areas that have been or are being blocked due to the outbreak
      Areas not yet blocked but with more cases
Date23 January – 8 April 2020 (2 months, 2 weeks and 2 days; most of Hubei ended on 25 March 2020; Wuhan lockdown ended on 8 April 2020)
Location
Hubei, China
Caused byCOVID-19 pandemic
GoalsQuarantine the region of the COVID-19 outbreak
MethodsSuspension of all public transport, and control of movement in and out of the city
Resulted inAbout 13 million quarantined in Wuhan;
over 57 million in fifteen other cities[1]
COVID-19 lockdown in China is located in China
COVID-19 lockdown in China
Wuhan in Hubei province, China
People in Wuhan rush to buy vegetables.

On 23 January 2020, the central government of China imposed a lockdown in Wuhan and other cities in Hubei in an effort to quarantine the center of an outbreak of COVID-19; this action was commonly referred to as the Wuhan lockdown (Chinese: 武汉封城; pinyin: Wǔhàn fēng chéng). The World Health Organization (WHO), although stating that it was beyond its own guidelines, commended the move, calling it "unprecedented in public health history".[2]

The lockdown in Wuhan set the precedent for similar measures in other Chinese cities. Within hours of the Wuhan lockdown, travel restrictions were also imposed on the nearby cities of Huanggang and Ezhou, and were eventually imposed on all 15 other cities in Hubei, affecting a total of about 57 million people.[3][4] On 2 February 2020, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, implemented a seven-day lockdown in which only one person per household was allowed to exit once each two days, and most of the highway exits were closed.[5] On 13 March 2020, Huangshi[6] and Qianjiang[7] became the first Hubei cities to remove strict travel restrictions within part or all of their administrative confines. On 8 April 2020, the Wuhan lockdown officially ended.[8] The lockdown, combined with other public health measures in early 2020, succeeded in suppressing virus transmission and averted a more widespread outbreak in China.[9][10]

Subsequent lockdowns were introduced in other regions of China in response to localised outbreaks during the two years following. The largest of these was Shanghai in early 2022.

Some Western observers, such as Amnesty International, were initially skeptical of the lockdown;[11][12] however, as the COVID-19 pandemic spread to other countries and territories, similar measures were enacted around the globe.

A series of protests in mainland China against COVID-19 lockdowns began in November 2022.

On 7 December 2022, China's National Health Commission in a 10-point announcement stipulated that negative COVID-19 tests would no longer be required, apart from vulnerable areas such as nurseries, elderly care facilities and schools.[13]

  1. ^ 武汉肺炎病毒持续扩散 湖北下令封15个城市 | DW | 24 January 2020 (in Simplified Chinese). Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 24 January 2020. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  2. ^ "Wuhan lockdown 'unprecedented', shows commitment to contain virus: WHO representative in China". Reuters. 23 January 2020. Archived from the original on 24 January 2020. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  3. ^ James Griffiths; Amy Woodyatt. "Wuhan coronavirus: Thousands of cases confirmed as China goes into emergency mode". CNN. Archived from the original on 28 January 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  4. ^ 襄阳火车站关闭，湖北省最后一个地级市"封城". thepaper.cn (in Chinese (China)). 29 January 2020. Archived from the original on 2 February 2020. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  5. ^ "China shuts down city of Wenzhou, far from virus epicentre". The Straits Times. 2 February 2020. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  6. ^ 湖北省黄石市：解除市区交通管制，停办通行证. Sina News. 13 March 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  7. ^ 湖北潜江市民燃放烟花庆祝解封. Sina News. 13 March 2020.
  8. ^ Zhong, Raymond (7 April 2020). "China Ends Wuhan Lockdown, but Normal Life Is a Distant Dream". New York Times. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  9. ^ Lancet, The (2020). "COVID-19 and China: lessons and the way forward". Lancet. 396 (10246): 213. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31637-8. ISSN 0140-6736. PMC 7377676. PMID 32711779.
  10. ^ Lu, Guangyu; Razum, Oliver; Jahn, Albrecht; Zhang, Yuying; Sutton, Brett; Sridhar, Devi; Ariyoshi, Koya; von Seidlein, Lorenz; Müller, Olaf (1 January 2021). "COVID-19 in Germany and China: mitigation versus elimination strategy". Global Health Action. 14 (1): 1875601. doi:10.1080/16549716.2021.1875601. ISSN 1654-9716. PMC 7833051. PMID 33472568.
  11. ^ "Here are seven ways the coronavirus affects human rights". Amnesty International. 5 February 2020. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  12. ^ Bernstein, Lenny; Craig, Tim (24 January 2020). "Unprecedented Chinese quarantine could backfire, experts say". The Washington Post. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  13. ^ "China announces a rollback of its strict anti-COVID-19 measures". NPR. Associated Press. 7 December 2022. Retrieved 11 December 2022.