Chinese authorities closed one of Beijing’s largest universities on Tuesday after it diagnosed a case of covid-19, illustrating the insistence on the ‘zero cases’ strategy despite growing popular discontent.
Students and professors of Peking University were prohibited from leaving the ‘campus’ and classes began to be taught via ‘online’, according to a statement issued by the institution.
The university has about 50,000 students, according to its official website.
Beijing has recorded more than 350 new cases in the past 24 hours, a small fraction of its population of 21 million, but enough to trigger localized lockdowns and quarantines, as part of the Covid-19 ‘zero cases’ strategy.
Nationally, China has diagnosed around 20,000 cases in the past 24 hours.
The authorities want to avoid blockades throughout the city, to try to minimize the impact on economic activity, but without giving up the strategy aimed at eliminating outbreaks of the new coronavirus.
Last spring, a two-month full lockdown of Shanghai, China’s economic “capital,” disrupted supply chains and trade, crippling the Chinese economy.
National guidelines released last week urged local governments to follow a scientific and targeted approach and avoid unnecessary measures.
This week, groups of residents in Guangzhou, one of China’s largest cities, escaped the blockade of their neighborhoods and clashed with police.
Tensions flared in the Haizhu district, which is under a very restrictive lockdown. The area is home to many migrant workers from poor rural areas. They complained about not being paid for being unable to attend work and about food shortages and rising prices due to epidemic prevention measures.
Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, is facing the largest outbreak of covid-19 since the start of the pandemic. The city registered more than 6,000 new cases in the last 24 hours. Other cities with large outbreaks include Chongqing in the southwest, Zhengzhou in Henan province and Hohhot, capital of the Inner Mongolia region in the north.
In Zhengzhou late last month, workers fled their dormitories at the world’s largest iPhone factory, some scaling fences to get out. US-based Apple warned that customers would face delivery delays for iPhone14 Pro models due to facility closures.
Source: TSF
