At least 10 dead in Xinjiang apartment fire Trump and Kanye West squabble over dinner

At least ten people have been killed and nine others injured in a house fire in the northwestern Chinese city of Urumqi. The authorities announced this on Saturday. Videos circulating on the internet showed huge flames blazing from the windows on the 15th floor of an apartment building. The fire broke out on Thursday.

Large parts of the Xinjiang region, with the capital Ürümqi, have been in corona lockdown for more than 100 days. A number of Chinese people criticized on social networks that the rigid measures taken in the event of a house fire had made rescue more difficult. Residents wrote that it was made more difficult for residents to escape through locked apartment doors. In addition, some fled too late or not at all for fear of breaking the prescribed curfew. The fire brigade arrived too late because of barred fences and cars in the way.

Several videos circulated on China’s social media on Saturday night purporting to show protests against the lockdowns in Ürümqi. The recordings cannot be independently verified.

China is currently experiencing the highest corona figures since the start of the pandemic. The Health Commission in Beijing also reported a record number of nearly 35,000 new cases on Saturday. Far-reaching movement restrictions apply in cities with more than a million inhabitants, such as Beijing, the heavily affected southern Chinese city of Guangzhou or Chongqing.

While the rest of the world has long lived with the virus, China remains steadfast in its strict zero-Covid strategy. In individual cases, residential areas are cordoned off. Contacts come to quarantine camps. Infected people are isolated in the hospital. (aeg/sda/dpa)