On February 1, China reported 63 COVID-19 infection cases from 8 municipalities and provinces, including Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong, and others. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is known for hiding COVID-19 information, so the actual number of cases is not known.
Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province has reported cases daily since it first reported an Omicron case on January 26. The Binjiang District, which had the most cases, sent over 300 buses to transfer 2,000 families, with about 9,000 people, from their homes to designed isolation sites. In some situations, the bus took people to certain hotels, but the hotels refused to accept the people. By now, the city has moved 30,000 people into designated isolation sites.
Xiong’an, Beijing’s satellite city, which has been designed to host the Beijing city government (Beijing will host the central government functions), reported five COVID-19 cases recently and locked down the city. However, this is a “secret” lockdown: the government didn’t publicly announce it, but only told the 1.3 million people in the city that they must stay at home and not go out. It also blocked the roads so people couldn’t leave the city. Foreign media confirmed the lockdown. Also commentators pointed out that the infection number was likely to be much higher than five, otherwise the authorities did not need to lock down 1.3 million people.
Related postings on Chinascope:
- Pandemic: Eight Provinces and Municipalities in China Reported COVID-19 Cases\
- Pandemic: Beijing Winter Olympics Will Not Sell Tickets
- Pandemic: Beijing Reported COVID Cases
Source:
1. Epoch Times, January 31, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/1/31/n13543661.htm
2. VOA, January 31, 2022
https://www.voachinese.com/a/voaweishi-2022131-voaio-xiongan-secret-lockdown/6420221.html
3. China’s Government website, February 2, 2022
http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2022-02/02/content_5671665.htm