Authorities in southern China have apologized for breaking into the homes of others who had been taken to a quarantine hotel in the latest example of harsh virus prevention measures that sparked a rare public response.
State media said 84 houses had been opened in an apartment complex in Liwan district, Guangzhou city, in an attempt to locate hidden “close contacts” and disinfect the premises.
The doors were then sealed and new locks were installed, the Global Times newspaper reported.
Liwan district apologized Monday for such “simplistic and violent” behavior, according to the newspaper. An investigation has been opened and the “people involved” will be severely punished, he said.
China’s leaders have maintained their “zero-COVID” hardline policy despite emerging economic prices and disruptions in the lives of citizens, who continue to be subject to regime testing and quarantines, even as the rest of the world has opened up to life with the disease.
Numerous cases of police and fitness personnel breaking into homes in China in the call for anti-COVID-19 measures have been documented on social media. In some, doors have been damaged and citizens have been threatened with sanctions, even when they have tested negative for the virus. The authorities demanded keys to lock citizens in the buildings where instances were detected, erected metal barriers to prevent them from leaving their enclosures and welded iron bars to the doors.
China’s Communist leaders exercise strictly on the government, police and social leversArrayMajority of citizens are accustomed to the lack of privacy and restrictions on freedom of expression and the right to assembly.
However, strict anti-COVID-19 measures have tested this tolerance, especially in Shanghai, where a ruthless and chaotic lockdown has sparked online and in-person protests among those without access to food, medical care and basic necessities.
Beijing’s government has taken a softer approach, concerned with galvanizing unrest in the capital ahead of a key party congress later this year in which President and party leader Xi Jinping is expected to win a third five-year term amid a radically slower economic expansion and higher rates. Unemployment among university graduates and migrant workers. The requirement that only other vaccinated people be allowed to enter public spaces was temporarily rescinded last week after citizens reported that it had been announced without caution and unfair to those who had not been vaccinated.
“COVID zero” has been justified as mandatory to avoid a wider outbreak among a population that has had low exposure to the virus and less natural immunity. Although the vaccination rate in China is around 90%, it is significantly reduced among the elderly. while doubts have been raised about the efficacy of vaccines produced in China.
Although China’s Fosun Pharma reached an agreement to distribute and eventually manufacture the mRNA vaccine manufactured through Pfizer and BioNTech, it has not yet been allowed to be used in mainland China, it has been allowed to be used through a separate government in Hong Kong. and Macau.
Studies have consistently shown that inoculation with mRNA vaccines provides the most productive coverage in the face of hospitalization and death due to COVID-19. Chinese vaccines made with previous generations have been shown to be effective against the original strain of the virus, but much less so against newer variants.
Now, fitness experts say the delay in approving mRNA vaccines, as a result of putting politics and national pride above public fitness, can lead to preventable coronavirus deaths and greater economic losses.
China’s national borders remain largely closed and domestic tourism has resumed, travel around the country remains subject to a variety of regulations, with quarantine restrictions constantly evolving.
In a recent incident, some 2,000 visitors to the southern resort of Beihai were forced to increase their stay after more than 500 cases were discovered and banned.
The local government struggled to find hotel rooms for those who were already ready to return home, while hotels and airlines reimbursed those who had booked a vacation in the city that they had to cancel.
China regulates and puts public access through an aptitude code app on the smartphones of citizens who want to keep up with normal tests. The app tracks a person’s movements as a form of touch tracking, allowing for greater enforcement of public surveillance.
Measures are maintained despite low infection rates. The National Health Commission on Tuesday announced only 699 new cases of domestic transmission detected in the past 24 hours, most of which were asymptomatic.