A guard is seen through a fence closing an area in lockdown in the Changning district, after new Covid-19 cases were reported in Shanghai, on October 8, 2022. (Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images)
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Chinese communist regime has locked down more cities and districts with fewer announcements amid increasing public criticism of its strict zero-COVID measures.
Under the regime’s zero-COVID policy, a single case could cause the whole neighborhood, district, or city to be shut down.
Wuhan Jiang’an District issued a notice on Oct. 31 stating that from Nov. 1, there would be five days of lockdown to curb COVID-19. Many people fled the city overnight by driving, after hearing the announcement, causing traffic jams. In the early morning of Nov. 1, many residents were still lining up to buy food and supplies to prepare for the sudden lockdown, emptying the shelves of major supermarkets.
Mr. Wu, a resident in Jianghan District of Wuhan who didn’t give his full name for fear of reprisal, told The Epoch Times reporter that on Nov. 1 there were no new cases in the community where he lived, however, it was also shut off. A notice said that it will be closed for 3 to 5 days.
On Sept. 19, large groups of students at the College of International Business and Economics of Wuhan Textile University gathered on campus to protest against a long lockdown and a power outage. (Supplied by interviewee)
“I read the official announcement every day, and I haven’t seen any newly infected patients living in our streets, but our community is still locked down and I don’t know if there was an internal report that wasn’t announced to the public or it’s the result of layers of political orders.”
Wu also revealed that the lockdown in Wuhan had been escalating in recent days, reminding him of the full lockdown when the virus first broke out in the city in early 2020, and many communities that hadn’t been shut off before have been locked down.
He said that he got inside information that the Hubei provincial government held an emergency meeting last weekend to discuss a large-scale lockdown in Wuhan. On Nov. 5, the World Wetland Ecological Environment Protection and Development Conference will be held in Wuhan, and that zero-COVID-19 in Wuhan hasn’t been achieved. He believes that the escalation of the lockdown was related to it.
Another Wuhan resident also told The Epoch Times that Wuhan has been locked down on a larger scale in the past days, and even without public announcements.
A guard wearing protective gear is seen at the entrance of the Hubei provincial center for disease control and prevention. (Hector Retamal /AFP via Getty Images)
He showed a screenshot of an internal document to The Epoch Times that shows the Union Hospital Affiliated with Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Jianghan District had been shut off at 6:30 a.m. on Oct. 26. Nobody was allowed to enter or leave because a staff member in the cafeteria tested positive for COVID-19.
According to the official website of the hospital, medical services such as outpatient and emergency services, fever clinics, health examinations, and other medical services in the main hospital area would be suspended from Oct. 26, and as to when the services will be resumed, the public will be notified later.
He showed another document to The Epoch Times, which is an internal notice issued by Hanyang District Organization Department of the CCP. It stated that from Oct. 26 to 30, the whole district would be locked down, and that enforcers will be on 24-hour duty to ensure nobody enters or leaves the residential communities in the district.
Covert Lockdowns Across the Country
According to a report from minghui.org, as early as Oct. 20, Wuhan has been locked down for 3 days, shutting off all stores and residential communities, leaving only banks, gas stations and pharmacies open. Qiaokou District has also been shut off. In Hanyang District of Wuhan, there were outbreaks reported on Oct. 23. Several areas in the district such as the famous commercial street Hanzheng Street and Tongji Hospital have been locked down. After the initial three days of lockdown, it continued in Qiaokou District.
Authorities have locked down China’s northeastern city Mudanjiang in Heilongjiang Province since Oct. 28.
The entire city of Gaobeidian of Baoding in Hebei Province has also been under lockdown. According to local villagers, they are not allowed to leave the village or their houses. They cannot go out to the field to do the autumn harvest.
Xia Song and Luo Ya contributed to this report.