Seven planes took off from Xi'an Xianyang International Airport in China on Saturday, the first flights since Beijing imposed a strict COVID-19 lockdown on the city last month, The Associated Press reported. The first inbound flights are expected to arrive at the airport Sunday.
According to AP, China has followed a "zero tolerance" policy that "aims to keep the virus out of China by finding and isolating every infected person."
Travel to and from the city of 13 million people has been restricted for exactly one month. China locked Xi'an down on Dec. 22 after public health authorities recorded 52 new COVID cases in the city the previous day. Under the lockdown, residents were forbidden to leave their homes except in emergency situations.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
One woman in a different city also affected by China's COVID policy earned special sympathy when quarantine orders trapped her in the house of a blind date. The woman, identified as Yang, went viral on Chinese social media after sharing her story, which began when she traveled to Zhengzhou from her home in Guangzhou for a series of blind dates.
She was on her fifth blind date when Chinese officials locked down Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, on Jan. 7. Wang had agreed to meet at the blind date's house so he could "show off his cooking."
-
October 13 editorial cartoonsCartoons Monday's political cartoons include Donald Trump's consolation prize, government workers during shutdown, and more
-
Can Gaza momentum help end the war in Ukraine?Today's Big Question Zelenskyy’s request for long-range Tomahawk missiles hints at ‘warming relations’ between Ukraine and US
-
The Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners being releasedThe Explainer Triumphant Donald Trump addresses the Israeli parliament as families on both sides of the Gaza war reunite with their loved ones
-
FDA OKs generic abortion pill, riling the rightSpeed Read The drug in question is a generic version of mifepristone, used to carry out two-thirds of US abortions
-
The new Stratus Covid strain – and why it’s on the riseThe Explainer ‘No evidence’ new variant is more dangerous or that vaccines won’t work against it, say UK health experts
-
RFK Jr. vaccine panel advises restricting MMRV shotSpeed Read The committee voted to restrict access to a childhood vaccine against chickenpox
-
Texas declares end to measles outbreakSpeed Read The vaccine-preventable disease is still spreading in neighboring states, Mexico and Canada
-
How China is battling the chikungunya virusUnder The Radar Thousands of cases of the debilitating disease have been found in the country
-
RFK Jr. shuts down mRNA vaccine funding at agencySpeed Read The decision canceled or modified 22 projects, primarily for work on vaccines and therapeutics for respiratory viruses
-
Measles cases surge to 33-year highSpeed Read The infection was declared eliminated from the US in 2000 but has seen a resurgence amid vaccine hesitancy
-
Kennedy's vaccine panel signals skepticism, changeSpeed Read RFK Jr.'s new vaccine advisory board intends to make changes to the decades-old US immunization system
