On the same day that Chinese authorities began to relax a 77-day quarantine on Wuhan, the city that exported coronavirus across China and ultimately to every corner of the world, a small town on the country’s border with Russia was locked down for the second time in three months. On April 8, residents of Suifenhe in northeastern Heilongjiang province were ordered to stay at home, with only one member of each household allowed out every three days to buy food and other supplies. Train services to Harbin, the provincial capital, were suspended. Like Wuhan, Harbin is a major industrial city with a population of about nm people.
Most of the Chinese cities, towns and villages that were locked down at the peak of Wuhan’s epidemic in January and February were relatively unscathed by the first outbreak of corona virus. At the time, Suifenhe was reported to have had no official cases. But now Suifenhe faces a real crisis, after Chinese nationals returning home from Russia triggered a much-feared “second wave” of infections. The city has more than 320 confirmed cases and almost 1,5 0 0 people in centralised quarantine facilities.
A sign with a QR code to indicate health status in Suifenhe, where only one member of as allowed out every three days to buy food and other supplies © Huizhong Wu/Reuters
“Lots of small businesses here did not make it to March ,” says Lin Xianfeng, who runs a renewablescompany in the city that turns biomass, such as scrap lumber and forest debris, into energy. “Theyjust closed for good. Now we face a very tough time as well. I worry about my business every day.”