Watch Video: China restricts pregnant woman, children in metal boxes to curb COVID-19 virus

New Delhi: Sprawling quarantine camps with rows upon rows of cramped metal boxes to house people suspected of having Covid-19 have sprung up in China, video on social media show.

The Communist country is attempt to eradicate the virus despite warnings that the more infectious Omicron variant makes a Zero Covid strategy impossible, even with the draconian measures used by Beijing.

China has imposed several draconian rules on its citizens under its "zero Covid" policy, placing millions under quarantine even as Beijing prepares to host next month's Winter Olympics.

Footage widely shared online shows people in the tiny boxes furnished with a wooden bed and a toilet, where they are forced to remain for as long as two weeks.

The lockdown of Anyang, home to 5.5 million people, was announced late Monday after two cases of the omicron variant were reported.

Residents are not allowed to go out and stores have been ordered shut except those selling necessities.

The approach of the Winter Olympics, which open February 4 in Beijing, and the emergence of omicron have brought back citywide lockdowns in a bid to snuff out outbreaks and prevent them from spreading to other parts of China.

Tianjin, a major port that is less than an hour from Beijing by high-speed rail, has locked down only affected areas as it carries out mass testing.

Xi'an and Yuzhou are both battling the delta variant and neither has reported any omicron cases.