In China, 37 million people are in Covid lockdown. Here’s what we know

Five cities — collectively home to more than 37 million residents — are now under varying levels of lockdown.

Residents in Changchun, Jilin city, Shenzhen and Dongguan are banned from leaving their neighborhoods, except for essential workers and emergency services. Each household is only allowed to send one person to buy groceries every two to three days.

The fifth city, Langfang, went a step further in prohibiting all residents from leaving their homes except for emergency reasons.

Several of these cities have suspended public transport and indoor dining, closed schools and are conducting multiple rounds of mass testing for all residents. Jilin city kicked off its ninth round of testing on Tuesday, with photos showing residents lining up outside in the snow, bundled up tight.

Jilin province has also implemented travel restrictions, prohibiting residents from leaving the province or traveling between cities within the province.

But these lockdowns also pose a huge logistical challenge for the government, with CCTV reporting the province only has a few days’ worth of medical supplies in stock.

Authorities are now racing to boost health care capacity in hard-hit areas — for instance, building temporary treatment centers in Changchun and Jilin city, and deploying thousands of soldiers to help Covid control work, according to Global Times.