The recent surge of Omicron infections in Xinjiang and Tibet since the beginning of August has prompted Chinese authorities to impose “zero-COVID” policies on several major cities in the area, with more locations being added to the lockdown list.
On Aug. 10, Urumqi, the capital and the largest city of Xinjiang, was put under a three-day “static management”—another term for lockdown. However, the lockdown has been extended for five more days based on an Aug. 15 announcement by the local government.
It’s noteworthy that Beijing created terms like “static management,” “closed management,” “societal zero-COVID,” “dynamic zero-COVID,” among others, replacing the original phrase “citywide lockdown” to minimize perceptions of the severity and harshness associated with “zero-COVID” policies….