Apparel Aviation Beijing Casino Chengdu China Clothing Communist Coronavirus Covid-19 genome Healthcare hotel Kazakhstan Macau Medicine National Day railroad Sichuan Social Media Tianjin tourism Twitter Weibo Xinjiang
Melissa Qian kept pressing the refresh buttons on two plane ticket sites. She was desperate for seats for her seven travelling companions and herself on a flight out of Yining, a city in the Ili Kazakh autonomous prefecture in China's far western region of Xinjiang . Flights had been cancelled, and so had bus and train services. Roads were also blocked. Qian and her friends were among legions of tourists stranded in the prefecture on Sunday when authorities in Ili put the area in lockdown, after two asymptomatic Covid-19 patients were identified in routine testing in the city of Khorgos,…