Impact of city and residential unit lockdowns on prevention and control of COVID-19

Peng Shao

The lockdown of core cities and the nationwide lockdown of residential units were important measures adopted by the Chinese government to manage the spread of the epidemic. Lockdown measures for COVID-19 epidemic regions were first implemented in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, on January 23, 2020, followed by the progressive lockdown of other cities in the Hubei Province. By February 7, 2020, the number of new confirmed and suspected cases gradually began to decline in China ( Figure 1A and C). From February 8, 2020, most cities across China had also implemented measures to lockdown residential units, and only one person from each household was permitted to purchase essential supplies every two or three days. Residents were required to show an "enter and exit pass" when entering or leaving their residence, and body temperature had to be checked at both entry and exit.A sharp increase in the number of confirmed infections on February 13 ( Figure 1A and D) was due to adopting the recommendations in the 5 th edition of the Diagnostic and Treatment Plan issued by the National Health Commission of China, which stated that a clinical diagnosis could serve as a basis for confirming a diagnosis. Medical resources are important factors that can determine the capacity of the core epidemic regions to provide treatments to patients. The 2019 China Statistical Yearbook states that the number of hospital beds per thousand people ranges from 4.56 to 7.19 in mainland China, and is 6.65 in Hubei Province (Table 1) . However, Hubei was hit hard by the epidemic after the outbreak. A large number of confirmed infections and a limited number of hospital beds led to the failure of timely treatment for many patients, which resulted in severe illness and death.