China suspends rail traffic from Xinjiang due to COVID-19 outbreak shortly after last confinement

Authorities in the Xinjiang region of northwest China have announced the suspension of rail travel from the area after detecting 92 cases of coronavirus in the last day and weeks after the region emerged from its latest confinement.

Zhu Dagang, a senior official in Urumqi, the region’s capital, explained that “due to the current epidemiological situation all passenger trains from Xinjiang are banned from departing” and confirmed that these measures will be modified depending on the development of the situation.

In this regard, he has indicated that the movement of buses between provinces has also been suspended. In addition, flights taking off from the region will not be allowed to have an occupancy of more than 75 percent.

Likewise, Urumqi residents are prohibited from leaving the city but he stressed that the cases of those who need to move to Beijing, the Chinese capital, will be analyzed.