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Government: Beijing Defends its “Zero-COVID” Strategy

The COVID-19 virus is continuing to spread in China. Since April, 12 local authorities (in provinces, cities, and counties) have imposed lockdowns either of their whole region or within a district. This is in addition to Shanghai, which was locked down in March. Around 373 million people in China are now living under COVID lockdown measures. {1}

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) controlled media recently published several commentary articles to defend the “Zero-COVID” strategy and downplay the humanitarian crisis and the economic impact of both COVID and the lockdowns. The following are comments from the CCP’s media:

  • Xinhua on April 12: A Short-Term “Pain” Will not Shake China’s Economic Fundamentals {2}
  • Xinhua on April 15: A Temporary “Restriction” Is for a Better “Loosening Up” – Understand the Necessity of the “Zero-COVID” Policy by reading the Explanations of Authoritative Experts’  {3}
  • China News Service on April 16: Act Quickly to Control the Quickly-Spreading Virus and Do Not “Lie Flat (Stop Working)”; Life Will Return to Normal In the End {4}

Related postings on Chinascope:

Sources:
1. China Press, April 16, 2022
https://www.chinapress.com.my/20220416/ ◤全球大流行◢坚持动态清零-中国4月已有12地封控/
2. Xinhua, April 12, 2022
http://www.news.cn/fortune/2022-04/12/c_1128554047.htm
3. Xinhua, April 15, 2022
http://www.news.cn/politics/2022-04/15/c_1128564920.htm
4. China News Services, April 16, 2022
https://www.chinanews.com.cn/gn/2022/04-16/9730513.shtml

Government: Office Document Shows Jilin Plans to Impose Lockdown with No Advanced Notice

The Epoch Times reported that an internal government document revealed that the authorities in Jilin Province have decided not to provide notice in advance to all of the residents before locking down a city or a region.

The document referred to the provincial COVID control meeting on April 15, where both the Provincial Party Secretary and Governor attended and spoke. The meeting requested, “After the current lockdown is over, residents should store at least a month-long supply of meat, eggs, and milk and a two weeks-long supply of vegetables. In the future, there won’t be any advanced notice before a lockdown takes place. [The Authorities] will impose a lockdown immediately to avoid close contact [and COVID infections] due to people’s rushing out to buy supplies.”

However, people are questioning if it is realistic for them to store such a big volume of supplies of perishable goods since  they have limited living space and only a small amount of room in their refrigerators.

Related postings on Chinascope:

Source: Epoch Times, April 16, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/4/16/n13713245.htm

Pandemic: Shanghai Adopted Implication Measure to Force People to Go to Modular Hospitals

Shanghai reported 26,330 COVID cases (1,189 confirmed infection cases and 25,141 asymptomatic cases) on April 13. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is known for hiding COVID information, so the actual infection count is unknown.

One of the methods the Shanghai authorities use to hide the COVID count is the way they handle those people who test positive. The authorities still report them as negative on official records but verbally notify them that they are positive. Then when authorities come to take them to the modular hospitals to isolate them, the infected people refuse to go since their official records show they are negative.

The Shanghai police announced that they will “strictly handle” any actions that COVID patients take in refusing to be placed in isolation. The police  listed ten prohibited actions, including people leaving their apartment while being quarantined and intentionally destroying the seal on their door in order to get out.

A residential committee in Hongkou District issued a notice on April 12 saying, “For those confirmed patients (from official testing), even if their self-test showed negative (which might mean they have healed), they must go to modular hospitals for treatment and obtain a paper stating they are released from quarantine. If residents refuse to go, they will be permanently marked as red in their Health Code application (thus they will have a hard time going out, entering facilities, or traveling); and the whole building in which they live will be put on lockdown. In other words, residents in the entire building will be implicated.

Related postings on Chinascope:

Source:
1. Voice of America, April 13, 2022
https://www.voachinese.com/a/shanghai-vows-punishment-for-covid-lockdown-violators-as-cases-hit-25-000-20220413/6527652.html
2. Radio Free Asia, April 13, 2022
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/huanjing/ql1-04132022042018.html

Government: Beijing Criticized Shanghai Officials for Passively Resisting COVID Control

Shanghai’s COVID continues spreading causing many humanitarian problems to occur. Beijing blames Shanghai officials for their inaction in the control of COVID .

People’s Daily, the CCP’s central media, published a commentary on April 10 to stress that the country persevere in the “Zero-COVID” strategy. It criticized certain officials’ for not putting in their best effort. “The antonym of ‘persevere’ is to ‘give up.’ Surrendering or giving up in front of the pandemic means to give up the previous success of COVID prevention and control.” “Any thought of lying down or waiting or relying on [the central government] or any thought of taking it lightly is greatly irresponsible to the big picture of pandemic prevention and control.”

From April 7 to April 9, Shanghai removed eight local officials for their poor performances .

Related postings on Chinascope:

Sources:
1. Epoch Times, April 10, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/4/10/n13707998.htm
2. People’s Daily, April 10, 2022
http://opinion.people.com.cn/n1/2022/0410/c223228-32395450.html

Pandemic: Unconfirmed Report: 100,000 People Sent to Help Shanghai

During the day on April 4, China reported 16,412 COVID cases (1,173 confirmed infection cases and 15,239 asymptomatic cases). Shanghai reported 13,354 cases (268 confirmed infection cases and 13,086 asymptomatic cases). Jilin province reported 2,472 cases (792 confirmed infection cases and 1,680 asymptomatic cases). The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is known for hiding COVID information, so the actual infection count remains unknown.

Shanghai previously announced a lock-down in Pudong (the east half of the city) from March 28 to April 1 and in Puxi (the west half of the city) from April 1 to April 5. The whole city remained in lock-down after the planned dates.

An Internet article titled “A Great Battle to Determine the Fate of China Is about to Start in Shanghai” mentioned the following:

  • Almost every street in Shanghai has COVID positive patients.
  • The top CCP leadership is mobilizing the whole nation’s resources to fight the prevention of COVID  and to control the battle. The military and 16 provinces are sending 100,000 people to Shanghai to help. Among them, the military is sending about 10,000 people.
  • The whole state machine is running at full speed to send people and supplies to Shanghai. By April 3, over 150 civilian planes, over 10 military planes, and several dozen high-speed trains had brought many people to Shanghai.
  • Shanghai will move tens of thousands of infected patients out to neighboring provinces (Jiangsu and Zhejiang Province) to quarantine them and to reduce Shanghai’s case count. Shanghai set a target of having a zero COVID count by April 11 and will reopen on April 18.

Another article on the Internet showed an urgent official document that the CCP ordered six cities in Zhejiang Province (Hangzhou, Ningbo, Huzhou, Shaoxing, Jinhua, Taizhou) to prepare to receive 30,000 people from Shanghai.

Related postings on Chinascope:

Source:
1. Epoch Times, April 5, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/4/5/n13696233.htm
2. Epoch Times, April 6, 2022
https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2022/04/06/a103393636.html

Pandemic: E.U. Asked Shanghai Government Not to Separate Parents and Children

On April 2, the Chinese authorities reported a new high COVID count: 13,146 cases (1,455 confirmed infection cases and 11,691 asymptomatic cases). Shanghai had 8,226 cases (438 confirmed infection cases and 7,788 asymptomatic cases). Jilin Province had 4,455 cases (956 confirmed infection cases and 3,499 asymptomatic cases). Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is known for hiding COVID information, the actual infection numbers are unknown.

The CCP sent medical support teams from many provinces, including Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shaanxi, Beijing, Fujian and other provinces, to Shanghai to help. Online videos showed many police from Shandong Province showed up in Shanghai; some Shanghai residents said they were sent to maintain “stability.” In other words, their task was  to put down any protests that the locked- down people initiated. Some protests broke out in residential communities due to the lack of a food supply. Also, a special airplane from Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province flew 120 food delivery people to Shanghai. Their job was to help to pick vegetables and package them for distribution. This indicates that the Shanghai’s food packaging and delivery system is also facing a severe resource shortage.

The French Consulate in Shanghai delivered a letter to the Shanghai government to request that the Shanghai authorities preserve the human rights of the citizens of the European Union who are in Shanghai. A few requests were:

  1. Under no circumstances should the parents and children be separated. They asked this because regarding the Chinese citizens, the  Shanghai authorities have separated the parents from their children.
  2. It is better to set up a special quarantine environment and provide English-speaking workers to the asymptomatic patients or patients with light symptoms.
  3. People who have only been exposed to COVID patients but are not infected should not be sent to centralized quarantine sites. Instead they should be allowed to manage their own health at home. They asked this because the Shanghai authorities gathered many exposed, but not infected, Chinese citizens and put them in centralized quarantine sites.

Related postings on Chinascope:

Sources:
1. Epoch Times, April 3, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/4/3/n13692063.htm
2. Epoch Times, April 2, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/4/2/n13691139.htm
3. Radio France International, April 2, 2022
https://www.rfi.fr/cn中国/20220402-法驻沪总领事馆-不要因防疫将父母和孩子分开

Pandemic: Official Lies and Tragedies Associated with COVID

COVID has continued to spread and expand in China. On March 29, Beijing reported 8,825 cases (1,629 confirmed infection cases and 7,196 asymptomatic cases) . Shanghai had 5,982 cases (326 confirmed infection cases and 5,656 asymptomatic cases), or 67.8 percent of total reported cases on that day. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is known for hiding COVID information, so the actual infection count is unknown.

A YouTube channel, focusing on reporting uncensored news in China, reported several information items it received from its Chinese audience:

The Pandemic Situation:

A screenshot showed that a lab conducting COVID testing, after testing a little over half of the testing kits found 4,000 tubes positive (meaning, at least 4,000 people were infected with COVID). There are many other testing labs – indicating the infection number is much higher than the official number.

A person reported doctors stopped coming to a residence community to do COVID tests, since “almost everyone there is COVID positive already.”

A hiring posting showed Shanghai modular hospitals are looking to hire 30 janitors and will pay 1,500 yuan (US $236) per day. This is a relatively high salary since many people make only a few thousand yuan per month.

Officially Declared Rumors:

A citizen posted six COVID rumors that the Shanghai government rebutted in the past:

Authorities declared rumor that “Huating Hotel had a few hundred infected guests.” The truth that authorities didn’t tell people was that “a few thousand people were infected.”

Authorities declared there was a rumor that “a senior team at the Caoyang Residential Community has been group infected.” The truth that the authorities didn’t tell people was that “senior teams on the whole street (with multiple residential communities) have groups that have been infected.”

Authorities declared there was a rumor that “Shanghai is building modular hospitals.” The truth that authorities didn’t tell people was “Shanghai has completed building modular hospitals.”

Authorities declared their was a rumor that “Shanghai Jiao Tong University (Xuhui Campus) reported several hundred cases.” The truth that the authorities didn’t tell people was “Shanghai Jiao Tong University (Minhang Campus) reported several hundred cases.”

Authorities declared there was a rumor that “Pudong reported 8,000 cases.” The truth that authorities didn’t tell people was “Pudong had much more than 8,000 cases.”

Authorities declared there was a rumor that “Shanghai will lock down the city.” The truth that authorities didn’t tell people was “Shanghai will lock down half of the city (Pudong) first and then the other half (Puxi) later.”

Tragedies:

A citizen shared two sad stories in his community: A teenage girl was tested positive but the government would not take her to quarantine and instead asked her to home-quarantine. She didn’t want to pass the virus to her parents, so she jumped off the building to kill herself. An elderly person ran out of medicine that he needed to take regularly. The gate guard would not let him get out to buy the medicine. Then the elderly person jumped off from the top of the building.

A woman posted that her father, near 70, was doing business at Jiangqiao Market in Shanghai. After the lockdown, he was driven out of his market’s dormitory and had to sleep under a bridge. He paid for a COVID test but was not given the test results, so he was stuck in Shanghai and couldn’t buy a ticket to leave (he needed proof of a negative COVID test ).

Jilin City, Jilin Province

A citizen was informed that Jilin’s situation was worse than Wuhan City in early 2000. Two deputy majors had been infected.

He was also informed that as early as March 20, the CCP’s Chemical Corps had entered Jilin City. His video showed multiple Chemical Corps’ special vehicles driving through the streets of the city.

Related postings on Chinascope:

Source:
1. Epoch Times, March 29, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/3/29/n13681738.htm
2. China Government Site, March 30, 2022
http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2022-03/30/content_5682361.htm

Pandemic: Shanghai Started a Half-City Lock-down

China has continued to report that its COVID-19 infection numbers are increasing and are more than they were previously.

On March 27, Beijing reported 6,215 cases (1,129 confirmed infection cases and 4,996 asymptomatic cases). The CCP is known for hiding COVID information, so the actual infection count is unknown.

Shanghai reported 3,500 cases (50 confirmed infection cases and 3,450 asymptomatic cases), accounting for 56 percent of all announced cases in China. The city, with a population of 26 million, announced a lock-down in Pudong of half of the city on the east side of the Hongpu River from March 28 to April 1 and then a lock-down of Puxi, the other half of the city on the west side of the Hongpu River, from April 1 to April 5. April 5 is the day for people to worship their dead family members, but the government announced the cemeteries will be closed to visitors and they will instead offer online grave visits or valet grave visits instead.

Jilin Province reported around 2,000 cases. It is building modular hospitals in its two most infected, cities Changchun and Jilin, as well as a few other cities. The province has built 19 modular hospitals, including eight in Changchun, ten in Jilin, and one in Huichun. Liaoning Province and Fujian Province also started building modular hospitals.

Related postings on Chinascope:

Sources:
1. Epoch Times, March 28, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/3/28/n13678342.htm
2. United Daily News, March 28, 2022
https://global.udn.com/global_vision/story/8662/6196740