Residents have been ordered to stay at home and about 70 percent of flights to and from the city, which is a major transit hub in Sichuan province and a government and financial center, have been suspended.
The start of the new school term has been delayed, although public transport continues to operate and citizens are allowed to leave the city if they can demonstrate a special need.
Under the rules announced on Thursday, only one member of each family who can present a negative virus test within the last 24 hours is allowed to go out for the day to buy essential items.
It was not known when the lockdown will be lifted.
Similar measures have seen millions of people confined to their homes in the northeastern city of Dalian, as well as in Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province that borders capital Beijing.
Chengdu reported about 1,000 cases in the latest outbreak and no deaths from the latest round of domestic transmission, but the extreme measures reflect China’s strict adherence to a “zero COVID” policy that has taken a heavy toll on the economy, with a lockdown. business closures and mass testing requirements.
China says the measures are necessary to prevent a wider spread of the virus, which was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019. Fears that it will be caught in quarantine or sent to a quarantine facility still and being in close proximity to a person who has tested positive has severely restricted people’s work, consumption and travel habits.
