China delivers groceries to quarantined city of 13 million after food shortage complaints

Some residents of the central city of Xian protested on social media about the shortage of food after almost a week of confinement due to an outbreak of coronavirus, after which the authorities began a food delivery campaign.

In addition, the National Health Commission of China announced the detection of 155 cases this Wednesday in the city, of 13 million inhabitants and in which 1,117 positive cases have been found since December 9.

The authorities of Xian decreed a confinement that prohibits leaving the city without a negative PCR and an official permit and ordered the closure of most public places, with the exception of some supermarkets and medical institutions, and the cancellation of all events and activities both indoors and outdoors.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, only two Chinese cities have been subjected to confinement of similar characteristics: Wuhan (center) in the initial outbreak in early 2020 and Shijiazhuang (north) last January.

The social network Weibo, similar to Twitter, was the channel through which several affected by the lack of food in Xian chose to protest: “The epidemic situation in Xian is serious, we can accept the massive rounds of PCR, stay at home and other measures, but do not make us unable to eat or buy food,” declared a user.

Another commenter stated: “I am no longer afraid of the virus, but I am afraid of starving”.

Originally, when the confinement of the city was decreed last Thursday, the authorities allowed a member of each household to go out every two days to the supermarket to buy groceries, but, according to the testimony of several Weibo users, they have found that several establishments have been forced to close and with what the confinement in some areas is stricter than announced, with the neighborhood committees restricting any exit from the neighborhood.

A Weibo user located in the central district of Yantai stated: “They do not let us leave the neighborhood and online home shopping platforms do not deliver to this area, if we continue like this we will starve.”

This Wednesday, the authorities blamed the difficulty of buying food on the “shortage of delivery men” and began to distribute basic products such as flour, eggs or oil among the population.

The distribution of food was celebrated by several Internet users from XianAlthough other residents wondered when the distribution would play in their neighborhoods:

“When does it reach the Beilin district? We have almost no food left,” said one user, to whom an official Xian Government account on Weibo asked her patience and assured her that the food was on its way.

According to official data from China, since the beginning of the pandemic, 101,890 people have been infected in the country, among whom 94,691 have managed to heal and 4,636 died.