China’s border city to Burma closed its main point of entry on July 5 due to new COVID-19 infections, coming a day after the Delta variant of the virus was detected in the region.
Health commissions across China have ordered people who have traveled in the past two weeks to Dehong Dai and Jingpo autonomous prefecture, especially the sub-prefectural Ruili city, to report to local authorities and start self-quarantine measures.
An announcement from Huaihua city authorities quoted the Dehong prefecture as saying that the Delta strain was detected in the gene sequencing of cases found in the area on June 3. It coincided with a report from CCP mouthpiece Global Times, which quoted a source from Ruili city officials.
Currently, citizens in Jiegao District, where the three cases were detected, are all under lockdown, because the authorities forced them to self-isolate.
“We’re informed that the city would be under lockdown from 9 a.m. yesterday,” local citizen Li Yuan (pseudonym) told The Epoch Times on July 5.
Li said she was notified on July 4 to take the nucleic test with ID cards.
“Today, the border is blocked again. Shopping centers, stores, schools, and companies work as usual,” she said.
Li claimed that the local government didn’t reveal where the infected people had been or other related details. But they’ve heard that the closure of Caiyuncheng, the largest tourism commercial complex in the city, was related to the infection.
“The message we received only mentioned that five people were infected,” Li said.
A shop owner in Caiyuncheng confirmed to The Epoch Times on July 5 that “the whole [of] Caiyuncheng is blocked.”
“All stores are closed, but the authorities did not explain the reasons,” the shop owner said.
Video footage circulated on Chinese social media shows police officers at the border telling residents that they “will not let anyone leave Jiegao” through a loudspeaker. Guards in the video bar people from entering Caiyuncheng, and the grocery shelves there are almost empty.
