But an official in Beijing told the Chinese-language Epoch Times that the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus outbreak in the capital was out of control and that authorities were covering up new COVID-19 diagnoses there.
In Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang, residents said the regime underreported the outbreak and they were worried about the situation due to the authorities’ lack of transparency.
Underreporting
Wang is an official working in the Beijing government. She revealed that the real outbreak is worse than what the official announcements have described. “Xihongmen [township in Daxing] has an outbreak which started on Jan. 23. [As a result,] we have locked down the Xingguang community since day one.”Wang said that though the city government said on Feb. 1 that there was only one area, the Ronghui community, designated as a high-risk region for virus spread, and no medium-risk regions, there were in fact another five communities in Daxing district that were being treated as medium-risk regions.
“We have about 1,700 families in our compound. They moved all residents from the first floor to the 30th floor of one building [to a quarantine center], and sealed off all the others, including my family,” Wang Fang said.
The Harbin government didn’t announce any virus cases from Rongyao Tiandi.
Travel Ban
The Lunar New Year falls on Feb. 12, and is the most important festival in China. Schools have two to four weeks winter break around Lunar New Year, while companies and governments are issuing a seven-day public holiday from Feb. 11 to Feb. 17. People normally travel to reunite with their families.In the past two days, Chinese people told the Chinese-language Epoch Times that their local governments allowed them to travel under certain conditions, but it was very difficult to get permission.
Shijiazhuang authorities announced on Jan. 30 that residents could leave the city with three certifications: a negative nucleic acid test result that was taken within seven days; a permission slip issued by the local community office; and a permission slip issued by the government authorities in one’s destination.
Li is a postgraduate student at a university in Shijiazhuang. Her hometown is Wu’an in Hebei, a city that is located about 120 miles away from Shijiazhuang. She eagerly wants to return to her hometown.
“I always spend the New Year with my parents,” Li said. “I’m alone and feel lonely in Shijiazhuang.”
Li said the community office would not issue certification if she did not have a permission slip from the destination government. But the Wu'an government said it couldn’t issue any certification because Hebei Province does not have such a policy.
Wang said, “Who dares to issue the leaving permit? The permit means the official can guarantee the resident won’t get infected during the trip...Who can guarantee a person won’t be infected? If this person is later diagnosed, you will lose your position.”