China's provincial governments have been reportedly resorting to strict and even draconian measures to avoid/contain the community spread of the COVID19 cases in line with the Chinese government’s “Zero-COVID” policy.
The Chinese citizens who have contracted COVID19 have been forcefully accommodated in metal containers which have been partially transformed into living spaces, according to a report by the Daily Mail. The report is based on social media videos that are said to be from China’s Xi’an, Anyang and Yuzhou cities.
The videos show frontline workers in hazmat (hazardous material) suits distributing food to the patients. The “detainees” were also seen complaining about paucity of supply of food which was further impacting their ability to live in the metal containers in the freezing temperatures. The report quotes the BBC which was informed by some of the people “quarantined” they were transferred in huge numbers into these camps. “They didn't make any proper arrangements and so they just carelessly placed us,” BBC quoted its sources as saying.
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Recently, 5.5 million residents of Anyang city in the Henan province of China were locked down, bringing the cumulative number of people to around 20 million. Anyang was the third city to be locked down after Xi’an (13.1 million people/Shaanxi province) and Yuzhou (1.2 million/Henan province) were subjected to similar restrictions in a bid to cut off the chain of transmission. Port city of Tianjin recently reported a community-based outbreak of Omicron-variant cases. As per a Hindustan Times report, the outbreak was linked to two Omicron cases reported on Monday in Henan province, which is 400 km away from the city. This is a cause of concern for Beijing as it seeks to control the outbreak in order to smoothly host the 2022 Winter Olympics which begin on February 4.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has ordered cancellation of 22 flights scheduled from the U.S. which were bound for Shanghai after a number of passengers were tested positive for the highly transmissible Omicron variant. The U.S. recently recorded the highest single day case of around 1.4 million owing to the Omicron outbreak.
Also read| Vaccines effective against severe disease, hospitalisation caused by Omicron: EMA
