Nearly 500 students at the China University of Communication have been sent to a quarantine center after some cases of Covid-19 were detected in a dormitory at China’s top journalism college.
The 488 students, along with 19 professors and five assistants, have been bused from the campus in the Chinese capital Beijing since Friday night.
The quarantine centers include field hospitals, as well as converted stadiums and exhibition centers, which have been criticized for overcrowding, poor sanitation and food supply.
The outbreaks registered in various parts of China in recent weeks have caused the total or partial confinement of several cities, including Chengdu (center) or Guiyang (south), under the Chinese policy of ‘zero cases’ of Covid-19.
The lockdowns have sparked online criticism and isolated clashes between residents and health professionals and police, as well as a major shock to the economy, affecting global supply chains for electronics and other goods.
The ‘zero cases’ policy consists of isolating all infected people and their close contacts in designated hospitals or facilities, strict border controls, massive PCR testing campaigns, and lockdowns of entire neighborhoods, districts, and cities.
Around 65 million Chinese residents are currently in lockdown, even though China recorded only 1,248 new cases of internal transmission today. Most of those infected had no symptoms.
On Friday, the Chinese health authorities announced the extension of the massive tests to detect Covid-19 to cities where there are no new infections, to “monitor” and “quickly alert” if cases are detected.
The measure was imposed in recent months in the main cities of the country. In Beijing, Shanghai, or Shenzhen, a negative test result, taken within the last 48 hours, is required to access public spaces, including parks, commercial spaces, or transportation.
It is also necessary to scan the QR code, a two-dimensional version of the barcode, placed at the entrance of all buildings, as well as on public transport or taxis.
On the streets of major cities there are thousands of places to conduct free PCR tests for residents.
On Wednesday, representatives of the National Health Commission insisted that the “zero cases” strategy is “the most economical and scientific” for the country because “it quickly detects new infections and contains the spread at the lowest cost and as quickly as possible.” . . possible”.
According to official figures, since the start of the pandemic, 246,328 people have tested positive for the virus in China, of whom 5,226 have died.
Source: TSF
