Crowds of people in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou have torn down fences and restraints meant to impede the movement of residents to curb a coronavirus outbreak in the city, according to videos posted online on Monday.
The act of revolt, unusual for the country, was a show of public resentment for the never-ending Covid zero policy imposed by the Communist Party at the beginning of the pandemic and which continues with relative severity to this day.
Among the most recent Covid outbreaks in China, Guangzhou is the biggest, with new daily infections reaching 5,000 cases for the first time since the start of the pandemic and fueling speculation that localized lockdowns could increase.
Videos widely shared on Twitter showed chaotic scenes in Guangzhou’s Haizhu district of people running through the streets and protesting against workers dressed in white protective suits. The social network is blocked in China, and several hashtags related to the topic “riots” in the region were removed from Weibo, a similar Chinese one, on Tuesday morning (15).
Neither the Guangzhou city government nor the Guangdong provincial police responded to Reuters news agency requests for comment.
“It was very tense last night. Everyone made sure their doors were locked,” said a Guangzhou resident who goes by the name Chet and lives about a kilometer from where the protest took place. “When it happened so close to me, I found it really disturbing. I couldn’t sleep last night after watching these footage,” added Chet, whose residential complex has been closed for about 20 days.
China reported 17,772 new coronavirus infections on Monday, up from 16,072 the day before. This is the highest daily figure since April, and comes against a background in which many cities have reduced routine testing of their residents after authorities announced measures last week aimed at easing the impact of the Covid zero policy.
In the capital Beijing, new infections hit a record 462 on Monday. Major cities, including Chongqing and Zhengzhou, are among the hardest hit.
China is struggling to limit the damage of its strict policy against Covid. The latest in a series of economic reports showed that retail sales fell in October and industrial production grew more slowly than expected.
While many residents expressed cautious optimism after last week’s announcement that some of the measures would be relaxed, concerns have increased in recent days as outbreaks have worsened, and confusion has arisen as some cities have stopped regular testing.
Under the new rules, testing of residents should be more targeted, easing the financial burden on cities. In the second, for example, the most populous district of Chaoyang, in Beijing, moved some exam sites closer to residential complexes. The move increased wait times, which generated frustration, as many companies demand negative results from their employees in the previous 24 hours.
The scenes of chaos in Guangzhou were the latest expression of frustration with restrictions against Covid, a hallmark of leader Xi Jinping’s government.
Last month, a Covid outbreak at a massive Foxconn factory that makes iPhones in Zhengzhou caused chaos, with many workers fleeing, including climbing fences, and disrupting production.
Officials in Guangzhou, which is home to nearly 19 million people, said they planned more makeshift hospitals, in addition to the six that had been built, with 20,000 beds, to watch infected people without symptoms.
“Guangzhou’s infection curve is keeping pace with Shanghai’s March-April outbreak, raising the question of whether a city-wide lockdown will be triggered,” JPMorgan analysts wrote, referring to the two-month lockdown in Guangzhou. Shanghai this year.
JPMorgan estimated that cities with more than ten new cases accumulated in the past week are home to 780 million people and account for 62.2% of GDP.
With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
