A group of people were told that they would be spending the night at a store in a fancy shopping district. A suspected Covid case was traced to the shop.
Anna was told to go back to the office building she had visited the day before for the meeting. She was waiting for test results for more than 200 people.
In Shaanxi Province, Zhao Xiaoqing was on a second date with a man when the local authorities locked down the neighborhood. She was with them for 30 days. She said she got along well with his family.
China, which has largely kept the coronaviruses at bay since 2020, is going to ever more extreme lengths to quell outbreaks that have arisen around the country in recent weeks, and a growing number of people are finding their lives suddenly upended as a result.
At least 20 million people in three cities were put under full lock down as recently as last week, and many more cities across the country have been subjected to partial lock downs and mass testing. In the past month, at least 30 major Chinese cities have reported Covid cases.
No Covid deaths have been reported in China's current wave, which is minuscule by global standards. There were 23 new locally transmitted cases in five cities on Friday.
With each passing day, the government's pursuit of "zero Covid" is looking harder to achieve. How long can it be maintained without causing long-term disruptions to China's economy and society?
The professor of political science at the University of Chicago said that it was almost like a last-ditch effort to stave off the virus. They are stuck.
The leadership has doubled down on its strategy, which involves mass testing, stringent border controls, extensive contact tracing and snap lockdowns, to extinguish any outbreak.
There are 24 locally transmitted cases in Beijing, where the Winter Olympics are set to open in two weeks. Several neighborhoods have been sealed off, and the authorities have stepped up testing requirements for entering and leaving the capital. The Olympics tickets would not be sold to the public because of the virus, officials said this week.
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A private testing site in Beijing.
The first Omicron case in Beijing may have come from a package in Canada, according to the authorities. People in China have been told to use caution when opening mail. Even though experts say the risk of contracting the virus from paper or cardboard is very low, mail in Beijing is being subjected to at least four rounds of disinfection.
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There are packages at the center. Chinese officials have said that the virus can be spread by mail.
Ben Cowling is an epidemiologist at the University of Hong Kong. If there are other things that could explain it, the authorities should keep looking.
The Chinese officials pushed a theory that the virus was brought to the area by American military personnel. When the city of 13 million was locked down in December, the central government blamed local officials for disruptions of food supplies and medical care.
A professor of political science at the University of Toronto said that Beijing is finding it difficult to defend its Covid-zero policy. The central policymakers are not to blame for the rising costs as they are starting to put the blame on local officials.
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Government and community workers prepare to give out groceries.
The zero- Covid strategy may have saved hundreds of thousands of lives and allowed most people to live normally during the Pandemic, which is supported by many in China. More and more people have been caught up in the dragnet as the recent outbreak has led to frustration.
After being locked down in her apartment in the northern city of Tianjin over a bunch of cases, Lilian Lin was forced to suspend her online business selling basic goods.
She will not be going home for the upcoming lunar new year holiday because of restrictions in her hometown of Zhengzhou.
Ms. Lin, who had been in her apartment for more than 10 days and counting, said she knew others had it worse. I am tired of the endless lockdowns.
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Lining up for testing in a port city.
The officials said this week that the restrictions would be loosened because the case numbers were falling. There is concern that China may have backed itself into a corner, the last major country to hold fast to a zero-covid strategy.
More than 80 percent of the population has had at least two vaccine doses, but most received Chinese-made vaccines which have been found to provide little defense against Omicron infections. China's leaders may be holding out for a more effective vaccine or waiting for a milder strain of the virus to emerge.
The increasing complaints are unlikely to change Beijing's Covid policy. China's zero-tolerance strategy was put at the top of the political risks for the year by the Eurasia Group, suggesting that it would backfire for the country and roil the global economy.
The authors of the report said that the most successful policy battling the virus has become the least.
The people denied medical care in Xi'an are just one of the stories emerging from the lockdowns.
Ms. Zhao had only met Zhao Fei on a blind date, before visiting his family in the city of Xianyang in Shaanxi Province last month. She was kept there for four weeks by the authorities and it seems to have changed both of their lives. They plan to be engaged soon, she said.
Ms. Zhao said in a video on the social network that many of her friends were curious about whether the blind date was a success. It was.
Some people have had less pleasant experiences.
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Anna was sleeping in an office building where she had just attended a meeting. She and hundreds of other people were ordered to return for testing.
Ms. Rudashko was getting ready for bed when she received an email from her employer. She was told to return to the office building where she doesn't work for an hourlong meeting because she was going to be tested for swine flu. Someone who was exposed to Covid had been on the same floor of the building.
The next day, she went to the office with more than 200 people she didn't know. They played cards, watched movies, drank wine and ate cold cuts from an Italian restaurant for 58 hours. The sleeping bag was on the windowsill in the office kitchen. A couple brought their dog with them. There was no precipitation.
The mood was to just make the most of it, Ms. Rudashko said by telephone.
She said that the person thought to have been exposed to the virus had tested negative. The experience left her feeling that China's Covid policy was not realistic.
She said that they are trying for zero but it is not happening. It feels like there is no end in sight.
John gave reporting.
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