As the fight against Covid-19 intensifies, China tightens travel restrictions.

In Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, and Giang, the capital of Guizhou, many residents have been moved from their homes to large government detention centers and sometimes hotels, reported on social media and Chinese news outlets. Other small cities in the Xinjiang region, such as Urumqi and Yining, have been partially or completely closed for more than a month.

Several districts in Chengdu, where the city’s more than 21 million residents have been told to stay at home since last week, have ordered a halt to the purchase and supply of “non-essential goods” in an effort to limit residents’ movement, the district government said. Descriptions.

Residents of the city of more than six million people in Guiyang took to social media to complain about food shortages after being unable to leave their homes for days, in scenes reminiscent of earlier lockdowns in Shanghai and other cities.

China’s new domestically transmitted infections fell to 1,314 on Wednesday, a 20 percent drop from the past seven-day average. Still, with more than 100 cities nationwide affected by the virus, it is the highest outbreak of the virus in the past two years, according to the state-owned China Daily.

Sichuan’s new daily infections have risen this week, with 159 cases on Wednesday, the latest health data showed. There have been relatively high cases along China’s borders, with Tibet, Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang totaling more than 600 new locally transmitted infections on Wednesday.

More than 5,000 workers have been sent to Tibet to control the outbreak, the National Health Commission said in a statement. The state has registered nearly 15,000 cases since the middle of last month and more than 113 officials have been fined for not implementing the government’s Covid policies.

There were also signs of a resurgence of the virus in Shanghai and Beijing, with officials in the capital warning of the potential danger of students returning to the city for the start of the new school year.

The crackdown is part of China’s strategy to crack down on zero-covid outbreaks, resulting in lockdowns, mass testing and border closures. The Communist Party is gearing up for its first congress in a decade next month, where President Xi Jinping is expected to extend his term as the country’s leader.

Trade data released on Wednesday provided the latest evidence of the economic toll of the zero-covid policy, with imports flat in August, the weakest reading since April, and domestic demand worsened by looming restrictions and a slump in assets.

In Sichuan, the fight against Covid-19 is worsening after this week’s 6.8-magnitude earthquake left dozens dead in the region. Some on social media have complained that authorities appear to be prioritizing Covid prevention instead of quickly mobilizing rescue teams.

The Ghanzi government, which is near the epicenter, said in a statement on Monday that 24-hour Covid test results are still needed for rescuers and evacuees. The statement has since been removed from the local government’s website, and the Chengdu Health Commission later said residents could evacuate their homes if their lives were in danger.

In southwest China’s massive housing complex of half a million people, many have turned to social media for help finding food after staying indoors.

Residents said they were unprepared when the lockdown was announced over the weekend. The Guiyang government announced on Wednesday that 301 people tested positive for the virus in a mass testing of more than 200 high-rise buildings. In the latest National Health Commission data, those numbers are not reflected in just 20 cases in the state.

Many on social media said elevators were blocked and access to stairs was blocked. One user wrote that she was running out of options to find food on the Twitter-like Weibo. I checked all the major shipping platforms online. No one delivers,” she wrote.

“After five days I finally volunteered to find some vegetables. Where are the relevant bodies? Another user, Giang, posted pictures of cabbage, eggs and pork, using a hashtag containing the name of the compound, which translates as “Flower Fruit Garden”.

Attempts to reach The Wall Street Journal’s social media users were unsuccessful.

Officials apologized for the lack of supply, saying it was partly due to inexperience. The Nanming district government, where the campus is located, said in a statement on Wednesday that it is deeply saddened by the incident.

According to social media posts, food started arriving in the state on Thursday.

Write Dan Strumpf at daniel.strumpf@wsj.com, Rachel Liang at rachel.liang@wsj.com and Liyan Qi at liyan.qi@wsj.com