BEIJING (AP) — Authorities in southern China have apologized for breaking into the homes of people taken to quarantine hotels, the latest in draconian virus precautions that have sparked a rare public backlash.
State media said 84 homes in an apartment building in Guangzhou’s Liwan district had been opened to search for “close contacts” hidden inside and to disinfect the homes.
The doors were later sealed and new locks installed, the Global Times reported.
The Liwan district government apologized on July 18 for the “oversimplified and violent” behavior, the newspaper said. It said an investigation had been launched and that “the persons concerned” would be severely punished.
Despite escalating economic costs and disruptions to citizens’ lives, China’s leadership is sticking to its tough “zero-coronavirus” policy, with citizens continuing to undergo routine testing and isolation from the disease even as the rest of the world has opened up for life.
Social media has documented multiple cases of police and health workers breaking into homes across China in the name of anti-COVID-19 measures.
In some places, doors were broken and residents threatened with punishment even if they tested negative for the virus.Authorities required key-lock residents in apartment buildings where cases were found, steel barriers erected to prevent them from leaving their homes, and iron bars welded to doors
Chinese Communist Party leaders exercise tight control over government, police and social controls. Most citizens are accustomed to a lack of privacy and restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly.
However, strict anti-COVID-19 measures have tested that tolerance, especially in Shanghai, where the relentless and often chaotic lockdown has sparked online and in-person protests among those without access to food, healthcare and basic necessities.
Beijing has taken a more dovish stance, fearing unrest in the capital ahead of a key party congress later this year, where President and party leader Xi Jinping is expected to gain a third five-year term. Unemployment of college graduates and migrant workers. The requirement that only vaccinated people enter public spaces was swiftly lifted two weeks ago after city residents denounced the rule, which was announced without warning and unfair to those who were not vaccinated.
“Coronavirus zero” has proven necessary to avoid a wider outbreak among people with relatively few exposures to the virus and with low natural immunity. While China’s vaccination rate hovers around 90 percent, it is much lower among older adults, and the effectiveness of China’s domestically produced vaccines has been questioned.
Although China’s Fosun Pharma has agreements with Pfizer and BioNTech for distribution and eventual production of the mRNA vaccine, it has not yet been approved for use in mainland China despite having been authorized for use by different authorities in Hong Kong and Macau.
Studies consistently show that mRNA vaccines provide the best protection against COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths. The Chinese vaccine, made with older technology, has proven to be quite effective against the original strain of the virus, but much less against the newer variants.
Now, health experts say the delay in approving an mRNA vaccine is due to prioritizing politics and national pride over public health — which could lead to avoidable coronavirus deaths and worse economic damage.
China’s borders remain largely closed, and while domestic tourism has picked up, travel around the country is still subject to a slew of regulations and changing quarantine restrictions.
