Faced with the reaction, Qianan County officials blamed individual housing communities for their “simplistic and radical means” of keeping Covid under control.
“We are investigating and will change our policy,” the Qianan Pandemic Prevention and Control Office wrote in China’s WeChat application. “We are also exploring the possibility of installing alarms to replace current methods.”
In the same county, authorities banned farmers from doing field work to curb the spread of the virus, but videos later surfaced showing people slipping out in the middle of the night to plow their fields.
Millions more remain under various forms of blockade in China, where the rapid spread of the Omicron option is a challenge to the country’s draconian zero policy.
Beijing is tightening Covid’s restrictions
Beijing on Tuesday tightened restrictions on Covid by banning certain residents, including those in neighborhoods described as “medium” and “high risk” for handing over Covid, from leaving the city. Residents will be held “legally responsible” if they leave Beijing in violation of the rules and cause the spread of Covid, said Tian Wei, director of foreign affairs at Beijing’s public relations department, at a news conference.
The city also closed dozens of subway stations.
While Shanghai remains Covid’s epicenter in China, with 4,982 new locally transmitted infections reported on Tuesday from a total of 5,428 new transmissions nationwide, other cities are also gradually imposing new restrictions.
In Zhengzhou, a city of 10 million in the central province of Henan, the government announced Covid’s city-wide testing and partial blockade after several cases involved the local high-speed railway station. Residents of the main neighborhoods will be partially blocked from May 4th to May 10th, the government said.
People reacted by rushing to stock up on food and other necessities. Videos circulating online show congested roads and crowded supermarkets, as many in China fear a repeat of the blockade in Shanghai, where residents complain about insufficient food supplies during the week-long blockade.
“It’s sad that more and more terrible things are happening because of Covid’s prevention,” a Weibo user wrote, commenting on the measures in Hebei Province. “Is that what China’s sense of pride should look like?”
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