BackWatch: Man dragged out of house in China for refusing to go to quarantine centre
China still imposes mandatory quarantine for incoming travelers even as its infection numbers are low
PremiumBrutal laws linked to China's zero COVID policy have often grabbed the headlines but, less often there are visual evidences that can quantify how extreme they are.
Recently, a clip that perfectly depicts Beijing's horrifying actions went viral that showed a man was dragged out of his home after allegedly refusing to go to a quarantine facility.
As the rest of the world has learned to live with the virus, China remains the only major nation still sticking to a “zero-COVID" strategy. The policy, which has been in place since the pandemic started, led to snap lockdowns and mass testing across the country. China still imposes mandatory quarantine for incoming travelers even as its infection numbers are low compared to its 1.4 billion population.
See the clip here:
Authorities said they later apologized for "pulling and dragging" him.
Last week, protests rocked Chinese cities with many citizens taking to the streets against the strict laws implemented to curb the sudden rise in infections. As per reports, the protest intensified after a fire incident in a residential building in the northwestern city of Urumqi, where people could not leave the building due to strict COVID laws. The fire killed at least 10 people.
Following this, the protests took many forms. One of the most significant was the blank paper protest where people demonstrated holding white paper. The gesture symbolises the act of silencing dissent and also challenge to authorities. The trend roots back to the 2020 Hong Kong demonstrations, where locals held blank pieces of paper to protest against the city's security laws.
The countrywide protest forced the government to ease the laws.
Despite easing measures, authorities said that the “zero-COVID" strategy — which aims to isolate every infected person — is still in place.
On Saturday, Beijing authorities said that because the current round of COVID-19 was spreading fast, it is necessary to “unswervingly continue to implement normalized social prevention and control measures."
Meanwhile, On Friday, World Health Organization emergencies director Dr. Michael Ryan said that the U.N. agency was “pleased" to see China loosening some of its coronavirus restrictions, saying “it’s really important that governments listen to their people when the people are in pain."
The government reported 33,018 domestic infections in the past 24 hours, including 29,085 with no symptoms.
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