Image source,Reuters
The empty streets after the city was closed
Some of the emergency coercive measures taken by Xi’an in the latest round of the new crown epidemic have caused dissatisfaction among the people, and the epidemic prevention status of this city with a total population of nearly 13 million has continued to be the focus of attention.
The Shaanxi provincial capital, which has been closed for two weeks, continues to have various problems related to epidemic prevention measures, including incidents such as insufficient food supply for the quarantined people, and conflicts between quarantine personnel and the people.
On Tuesday (January 4), when a new round of nucleic acid testing began in Xi’an City, the official big data mobile app for epidemic prevention and control, “Xi’an Yimatong”, reportedly collapsed due to excessive traffic. The public’s epidemic prevention and control code Unable to display, this is the second time in the last ten days.
The Xi’an Municipal Government held a press conference on Monday, admitting that the “insufficient preparations” during this round of the epidemic have led to untimely service to the people. Both the secretary of the Yanta District Party Committee and the head of the Yanta District, who had suffered the most from the epidemic, were removed from their posts.
The city began to lock down the city on December 23. The city’s communities (villages) and units have implemented closed management. However, the number of new local confirmed cases exceeded one hundred in a single day for more than a week, and it did not drop slightly until January 2.
On social media, many Xi’an residents criticized the authorities, saying that they still do not know “how the Xi’an epidemic broke out” and that “the chain of transmission has not been clarified until now.”
Emergency measures cause various problems
Xi’an is the center of a new wave of epidemics in mainland China, and the authorities have taken quite radical measures.
Image source,Getty Images
Nucleic acid detection points on the campus of Northwestern Polytechnical University
The city’s 13 million residents are forced to stay at home, and it is even difficult to go out to buy food or daily necessities. According to Chinese media reports, since the closure of Xi’an at midnight on December 23, each household in the non-key enclosed community can provide one person for two days to purchase daily necessities. On the 27th, the prevention and control measures were suddenly increased, the two-day mining was cancelled, and residents were completely prevented from going out.
Some residents of Xi’an were forced to leave their homes by quarantine officers at midnight, and then sent to quarantine locations, causing concern on social media.
Since the global pandemic of the new crown epidemic, mainland China has been pursuing a “zero out” policy through official compulsory measures such as city lockdown, partial closed management, full nucleic acid testing, mandatory isolation, and close tracking of big data. This has the effect of controlling the spread of the epidemic. Obviously, but the price is often the convenience of people’s lives and personal freedom.
Yuzhou City, Henan Province, suddenly announced on January 2 that it would take emergency measures such as suspension of transportation, suspension of business, suspension of classes, and access only.
The authorities may hope to eliminate this wave of outbreaks before the Lunar New Year in February and the Beijing Winter Olympics.
The situation in Xi’an has made the atmosphere more tense, and many people have recently posted complaints on social media.
The authorities distributed free food to residents, but some people said they received very little supply, and some had not even received food.
Image source,Getty Images
Xi’an residents buy vegetables at the gate of the community.
Image source,Getty Images
Since December 9th, Xi’an has reported more than 1,600 confirmed cases and is the center of the latest wave of epidemics in China.
According to reports, residents of Mingde 8 Miles Community in the south of Xi’an were asked to leave their homes and transfer to isolation facilities after 0 am on January 1.
This is believed to be due to cases of infection in the community, and many Chinese media have reported that the community has been cross-infected during the new coronavirus detection process.
There is no public information on how many people have been transferred, but some people pointed out on social media that 30 buses were seen outside the community, and another person claimed that as many as 1,000 people were transferred.
Some people stated that they were left on the bus and waited for several hours. According to reports, the people sent to the quarantine location included the elderly, children and pregnant women. An old man stood alone in a cold winter night waiting for the transferred picture, which was spread wildly on social networks and received widespread sympathy.
Some people posted photos of the quarantine point, claiming that the equipment was very rudimentary, the environment was too cold, and that they had not received food.
“Nothing, only the most basic facilities… No one came to see us, what kind of isolation? They moved a large number of people at night, more than 1,000 people, many of them were elderly and children, without any proper arrangements, just threw them away. Here,” said one of the comments released by the affected residents.
The incident aroused widespread attention on the social platform Weibo, and many people questioned whether it is necessary to transfer, because residents have been quarantined at home for about two weeks.
They were still able to go out to buy food at first, but last week, the Xi’an authorities further tightened measures to force residents to stay at home and only go out when they are tested for the new crown virus.
Tension and anxiety
These are part of a number of recent incidents on Chinese social media regarding the tension and anxiety caused by Xi’an’s epidemic prevention measures. Since December 9th, the city has reported a total of 1,600 confirmed cases.
Over the past weekend, a video showing a man being beaten by quarantine staff for buying steamed buns from home has been widely circulated. The Xi’an government authorities later confirmed that the relevant staff had been punished.
In another incident, a group of students were stranded in Xi’an after taking a postgraduate exam. One of the students said that he had eaten instant noodles for two weeks, and now there are only five packs left.
Last week, the government claimed to ensure that people have access to food. Afterwards, some people posted photos on social media showing the food they obtained.
“Thank you for the instant noodles issued by the government, it’s time for dinner!” one person wrote on WeChat.
But some people say that they still have difficulty getting basic daily necessities.
Many comments mentioned that the isolation measures prevented many women from getting basic supplies such as sanitary napkins.
In more extreme incidents, some people said on social media that because (residence) is in a medium-risk area in the big data, many hospitals in Xi’an did not receive treatment, resulting in the situation that patients could not get treatment in time.
Image source,Reuters
People in Xi’an have been distributing food by the government in recent days.
The Xinguan Patient Hospital in Xi’an is also under construction. Three hospitals have been built and another one is under construction.
According to Chinese state media reports, the new hospital will provide another 3,000 beds for COVID-19 patients.
Zhang Canyou, an expert from the China Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told state media China News on Monday (January 3) that at present, “some positive changes have been seen.”