Recently, mainland China and Hong Kong have seen the largest spike in COVID-19 cases in more than two years since the pandemic began in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
Despite determinedly pursuing one of the world’s strictest virus elimination policies, the recent surge in cases presents a tough challenge to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “Zero-COVID” narrative.
The first signs of strain on the heavy-handed measures began to appear when authorities were forced to impose increasingly large lockdowns, disinfection theatrics, mass testing and travel restrictions triggered by the more infectious Delta variant in 2021.
As more locked down residents take to social media to voice their dissatisfaction over rapidly dwindling supplies of food and essentials, questions have started to emerge as to how long the CCP authorities can maintain the policies for.
And now the more contagious Omicron variant has called it further into question.
READ MORE:
- China Builds Six COVID Hospitals in Jilin Province, 6,000 Students Locked Down Within School Campus
- Lockdowns, Panic Ensue as China Has Worst COVID-19 Outbreak in Two Years
- Hong Kong Hospitals Placing Body Bags Under Patients’ Beds as COVID-19 Surges Out of Control
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In mainland China, thousands of cases are now being reported each day and the northeastern province of Jilin, home to roughly 24 million people, has been placed under lockdown — the first time China had restricted an entire province since authorities locked down the entire city of Xi’an for three weeks in late December last year.
Hong Kong, which was previously almost untouched by the virus, is now seeing 30,000 cases and more than 200 deaths a day. The city’s healthcare system is now on the verge of a total collapse, with shocking images and videos of people in need of hospital care receiving rudimentary treatment outside medical facilities or laying on the floor of hospital corridors as beds run out.
Kindergarten children taken away
In this video posted on Twitter, children attending a kindergarten in Tianjin City can be seen being taken away by health officials in hazmat suits. The children are crying and asking to see their parents when they are taken to the elevators. In the video, a woman can be heard saying, “Such young children. Poor child! Such small children! Dads and moms are not with you. Ah! Poor child!”
Dozens of locked-up residents can be heard shouting to be let out. “We want to live!” a man holding a loudspeaker said from inside the fence, adding that everyone was being kept inside, regardless of whether they had tested positive or not. “Don’t you have families? Do you keep your children locked up with infected patients?”
Begging to be let out and beaten for breaking quarantine
This video occurred in Langfang City, Hebei Province where pandemic prevention staff are seen dismissing people and even children. Several people can be seen on their knees begging for help. A staff member says, “If you have any issues, go to the government, not us.” Another man can be heard replying, “The government doesn’t care. These policemen don’t care about them even when they are begging on their knees.”
The Chinese caption reads, “In order to monitor people during the lockdown, bandit authorities in Yanjiao, Hebei have dispatched five drones to patrol the residential area. Whoever walks downstairs and exits the door will be arrested, taken away, or even placed under criminal detention! The authorities do not offer any assistance to the people but use high-tech means to oppress them instead. Many people were so stressed out, they were on the verge of fainting.”
Critically ill patient told to show certificate ‘proving’ that he is near death in order to receive medical attention
An elderly man in a small district in Zibo City, Shandong Province was very sick and in urgent need of medical attention. Epidemic prevention personnel stopped him and asked for a certificate to show he was “awaiting death” in order to be let inside the hospital. The elderly man’s family members were angry and asked what such a certificate even means. “What is a near-death-certificate? How can we provide proof of someone nearing death? But the staff did not give in.
