A third China city - the city of Anyang in Henan province - in lockdown on anniversary of first Covid-19 death

A man wearing a face mask to help protect from the coronavirus walks by medical workers in protective suits taking swab samples for the Covid-19 test from residents in Huaxian county, central China's Henan province on Monday, Jan. 10, 2022. A third Chinese city has locked down its residents because of a Covid-19 outbreak, raising the number confined to their homes in China to about 20 million people. - AP

BEIJING, Jan 11, 2022 (AFP): Residents in a third Chinese city woke up Tuesday confined to their homes as the country battled several outbreaks two years to the day it reported the first death from the disease that came to be known as Covid-19.

Since January 11, 2020, known fatalities in the pandemic have soared to nearly 5.5 million and the emergence of the fast-spreading Omicron variant has forced the reimposition of curbs from Japan to Italy.